Jewish survivors in the British zone of Germany are outraged by the mild sentences imposed last Friday by a German court on two S.S. men who murdered a Jew during the November 1938 pogroms in Germany.
In the first trial before the Bremen Criminal Court of participants in the November pogroms the former storm troopers were sentenced to eight and six years at penal servitude, respectively. The defendants pleaded guilty of killing a Jewish merchant by the name of Heinrich Rosenbaum. They admitted entering Rosenbaum’s house on the order of their officers with intent to kill. They pleaded, however, that they were acting under duress.
The defense counsel demanded an acquittal, while the prosecutor urged a life sentence. The presiding judge ignored the defendants’ confession and, when announcing the verdict, cleared the SS men of the charge of premeditation.
Commenting on the verdict, the legal department of the Jewish Committee for Relief abroad, which operates in the British zone, declared that the court’s decision “surprised and shocked” the Jewish population. The sentences are reminiscent of the lement sentences imposed on Nazis who assaulted Jews in the years immediately preceding the establishment of Hitler’s regime, a spokesman said.
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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.
