A 45-year-old Austrian engineer, Friedrich Rainer, the son of a former Nazi district leader, went on trial today in a Klagenfurt court on charges of neo-Nazi activity.
According to the indictment, Rainer distributed leaflets propagating Nazi ideology. The pamphlets denied the existence of gas chambers, of the Holocaust, and of persecution on the basis of race and religion. The leaflets attacked West German courts as one-sided and suffering from a persecution mania.
Rainer sent an insulting letter to Simon Wiesenthal, head of Nazi War Crimes Documentation Center here. The indictment described the letter as justifying Hitler’s policy towards the Jews. Two of Rainer’s sister also face trial for Nazi propaganda. Their father, Dr. Friedrich Rainer, a former district leader in Carinthia, was sentenced to death in Yugoslavia in 1947.
Help ensure Jewish news remains accessible to all. Your donation to the Jewish Telegraphic Agency powers the trusted journalism that has connected Jewish communities worldwide for more than 100 years. With your help, JTA can continue to deliver vital news and insights. Donate today.
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.
