Among the first bills adopted by the new Reichstag is a law amnestying persons who have been convicted for taking part in pogromist acts, the desecration of Jewish cemeteries and in the terrorism by bombs which was so alarming a feature of the period connected with the German general election during August of this year.
The bill provides for a reduction by half of the sentences of imprisonment passed for these outrages. It will also affect a number of Jewish workers upon whom exemplary high sentences were passed for participating in street clashes. These concessions are also to be applied to cases in which misdeeds are traceable to economic want and distress.
The amnesty will thus affect a considerable number of Nazis who are imprisoned for the numerous outbreaks and attacks on Jewish houses of business and synagogues and will also affect the terms of imprisonment passed on those who participated in the attacks on Jews in the Kurfuerstendamm, Berlin, on their way to and from the synagogues on the second day of Rosh Hashonah, 1931. On that occasion scores of Jewish men and women were injured by organized forces who attacked the worshippers, surrounded the synagogues and beat many Jews as they emerged from the services.
The amnesty was passed with the united votes of the Nazis, the Socialists and the Communists against those of the other parties, the vote going 393 to 144 against.
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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.
