Samuel Weissberger, the Jewish merchant of Michalovce, who was arrested in December on the charge that he had in November 1918 during the Revolution, which set up the Czecho-Slovakian Republic, shot two peasants named Kucik and Jurca, has been released by the law court at Kaschau on bail in 350,000 Czech Kronen.
The authorities had previously refused to consider allowing Weissberger out on bail, and it is believed that their present concession is a preliminary to dropping the case against him. The Minister of Justice recently assured a Jewish delegation that no proceedings would be taken against anyone on charged connected with the 1918 Pevolution, because the Trianon Treaty provided an amnesty in regard to all such activities. The charge against Weissberger was that in his capacity as an Austrian gendarme he had shot the two peassants while serving in an Austrian execution squad, engaged in putting down the Czecho-Slovakian independence movement.
Weissberger contends that he was demobilised in October, and on the date on which he is accused of having shot the two peasants, he was conducting his business at Michalovce.
It has been alleged that the charge against Weissberger was made on false information lodged against him by a Slovakian publican named Curi, who wanted to revenge himself on Weissberger who had refused to credit his bill for 10,000 kronen.
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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.
