West German President Heinrich Luebke declared here yesterday that trials of Nazi war criminals must continue and that “no repressions of the truth of what happened under the Nazi regime could help, because the world realizes that Germany seriously desires to repent, and the world has confidence today in the new Germany.”
President Luebke was the principal speaker at a rally commemorating the 20th anniversary of the liberation of the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp. Among the participants in the meeting were representatives of anti-Nazi and Resistance Fighters associations from virtually every free country in Europe. A separate ceremony was held later at a monument dedicated to the 30,000 Jews who lost their lives in Bergen-Belsen camp.
“Self-purification in Germany,” said Dr. Luebke, “will be proven by deeds alone. What happened under Hitler was not done with the knowledge or under the instruction of the German people, but in our name. If Germany should fail a second time, then nobody could use the excuse that he knew nothing about what went on.”
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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.
