The Anti-Defamation League of B’nai B’rith today criticized the recommendation by a West German prosecutor to acquit four former Nazi concentration camp guards accused of participating in the murder of 250,000 Jews. The four defendants in the four-year-old trial served at Maidanek, near Lublin, Poland. They are Heinrich Schmidt, a camp doctor, and three guards, Hermine Boettcher, Rosa Suess and Charlotte Meyer.
The prosecutor at the Dusseldorf court, Dieter Ambach, claimed yesterday that the evidence against the defendants was “too inexact for a verdict.” The court is expected to uphold the prosecution’s request next month. Justin I, Finger, ADL’s civil rights director, pointed out that volumes of testimony have been heard and that sufficient evidence existed for delivery of the original indictment.
“It would be most inappropriate, ” Finger said, for the courts to allow acquittal in these cases before the jury itself is given the opportunity of weighing the evidence that has been so tirelessly gathered.” Polish and Israeli officials have cooperated in turning over information to the West German authorities.
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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.
