Knesset Calls for Speedup of Nazi Trials

The Knesset yesterday called for a speedup in the trial of Nazi war criminals who murdered Jews in the Maidanek concentration camp. Discussing two motions to the agenda, the Knesset also appealed for more trials by West Germany of Nazi war criminals, and expressed horror at the signs of growing forgetfulness concerning the Holocaust.

The motions were presented by Mapam Knesseter Chaika Grossman and Democratic Movement for Change Knesseter Assaf Yaguri. The motions concerned the proliferation of books and films claiming the Holocaust was a myth invented by Jews and the slow pace of the trial of 14 Maidanek murderers in a Duesseldorf courtroom.

Grossman, a survivor of the Holocaust, called for the establishment of a “World Council Against Anti-Semitism and Neo-Nazism” whose primary objective would be to monitor all manifestations of racism and anti-Jewish activity.

Justice Minister Shmuel Tamir deplored the fact that the Maidanek trial, which opened in November, 1975, has still not been completed. Tamir disclosed that the Israeli government refused entry visas to five Germans involved in the trial who wanted to come to Israel and talk to witnesses.

Among the five were one of the defendants, Hildegarde (“Bloody Brigitte”) Lacher and Ludwig Bock, a prominent lawyer of the defendants. The other three were one more defendant and two other defense attorneys. They were all declared persona non grata in Israel. Tamir observed that the Eichmann trial lasted about three months. It was therefore totally unreasonable that the Maidanek trial should take more than two-and-a-half years, he said.