Paul Schoenen and Arnold Strunk, the neo-Nazis sentenced last February to prison sentences for desecrating the Cologne synagogue with swastikas last Christmas Eve, finally started their prison terms today, after the public prosecutor dropped his appeal from their sentences.
Schoenen had been given a 14-month sentence, and Strunk’s sentence was fixed at ten months’ imprisonment, after they had been convicted for the Christmas Eve swastika smearing which sparked a wave of anti-Semitic incidents in this country and abroad. The prosecutor had appealed on the grounds that their sentences were too light. Now that the appeal has been canceled, their sentences have become effective.
Meanwhile, it was announced here today that some stones were overturned and others were defaced in the Jewish cemetery at Hohne, near the former site of the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp. The desecrations were discovered yesterday morning. Police are attempting to trace the culprits.
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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.
