Imprisoned Nazi war criminals in West Germany benefit from the efficient help of a powerful and discreet lobby which has succeeded remarkably in reducing their jail terms and in providing them legal help, according to a broadcast of the Cologne-based state radio station, Westdeutscher Rundfunk.
According to the broadcast, the lobby masquerades as a voluntary organization, called “Stille Hilfe” (Quiet Help) which purportedly seeks to help all prison inmates.
The broadcast cited a recent study on two categories of prisoners serving life terms: Nazi criminals and “normal” criminals. For Nazi inmates, life imprisonment usually ended after 12 years in jail, but for the other category, a jail term of less than 18 years was an exception. The broadcast attributed the sharp difference to the continued efforts of Stille Hilfe to obtain early release for Nazi war criminals.
Heiner Lichtenstein, the moderator, said judges often get letters asking them to release Nazi inmates because of family problems or for reasons of age. He said many of those letters had a similar text and were most probably prepared by Stille Hilfe members with legal backgrounds. The organization is recognized by West German income tax officials so that contributions to it are tax-deductible.
The broadcast named some leaders of Stille Hilfe and quoted from a document which made it clear that, at a recent Stille Hilfe meeting in a Bremen hotel, additional help for jailed Nazis was being planned.
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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.
