Exhumation of the body of a German Storm Troop member who has lain buried in the Praha Jewish Cemetery since last May 31 has been asked by the family of the deceased, who was a Christian.
The mutilated body of the man was found on the tracks near the Praha-Bubenec railroad station by workers on the road. All efforts to identify the man failed, and since all indications were that he was of Jewish origin, the coroner’s office ordered him buried on the portion of the Jewish cemetery set apart for suicides.
Several days ago when a member of the German consulate in Prague requested official information about the suicide, it was learned that he was Fritz Karl Brosziat, a non-Jew, who had lived at Berlin and had been a Storm Trooper. In April, 1934, he had deserted from the brigade to which he had been assigned and after many trials had come to Praha, where he sought in vain to get assistance from some refugee aid organization. The threat of deportation caused him to take his own life. When his relatives learned of, Brosziat’s death they requested that his body be re-interred in a Christian cemetery.
JTA has documented Jewish history in real-time for over a century. Keep our journalism strong by joining us in supporting independent, award-winning reporting.
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.