A plea to the conscience of the world not to permit the “desecration of the graves” at the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp site was made this weekend by Rabbi Herschel Schacter, chairman of the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations. With the hearings of the International Court of Arbitration scheduled for this Tuesday at the gravesite in West Germany, Rabbi Schacter said it was important that world opinion be mobilized against the attempt of the French Government to remove the bodies of 139 French citizens buried there.
He said, “We are deeply and sorely disturbed to learn the shocking news that the French authorities insist on disturbing the rest of the thousands of martyrs who were murdered with brutal inhumanity by the Nazis. It is difficult to believe that such a macabre act will be permitted 25 years later. All decent individuals and world opinion must react with horror to such a desecration. We plead with our fellow human beings against any desecration of the remains of those who suffered so long in life and who ought now to be left in reverent peace.”
The West German Government has issued a temporary order preventing the French Government from opening the graves. Appearing as key witnesses at the hearings before the nine-man international court of arbitration will be Joseph Rosensaft, president of the World Federation of Bergen-Belsen Associations, and Gen, Glyn Hughes, the British Army officer who liberated the camp in 1945. Gen. Hughes will testify that it was impossible to differentiate 25 years ago to determine which were the bodies of the Frenchmen. Mr. Rosensaft said that opening the graves would not make it possible to determine which of the bodies were French.
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