A 59-year-old former Nazi district leader of Upper Franconia went on trial here today, charged with the attempted murder of Rabbi Moshe Rosenau of Muelhausen. Thuringen, during the night of November 9, 1938 when Nazi storm-trooper throughout Germany went on a wild pogrom during which Jews were injured and killed and Jewish hones, businesses and communal institutions were destroyed.
The prosecution charged that the district leader. Paul Vollrath, lined the rabbi, his wife and 14-year-old daughter against a wall of the rabbi’s synagogue in Stadtsteinach and shouted that he had sworn to “finish” the first Jew he met. Vollrath fired two shots from a revolver, one of which hit Rabbi Rosenau in the chest. Ten witnesses have been called by the state, including the now grown daughter who has been living in Israel.
JTA has documented Jewish history in real-time for over a century. Keep our journalism strong by joining us in supporting independent, award-winning reporting.
The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
