Gustav Sorge and Wilhelm Schubert, former S.S. guards at the Sachsenhausen concentration camp, were convicted this week-end of dozens of murders of Jews and other prisoners at the death camp. Each drew a life sentence, the maximum allowable order West German law for the crime of murder.
Both men admitted a number of killings, using as their excuse that they were obeying orders from superiors. In addition, Sorge admitted a number of brutalities, while Schubert pleaded that he regretted now his past actions.
Even as the sentences were announced, the West Berlin police force suspended 16 policemen pending investigation of their service in World War II in a Gestapo battalion which carried out mass executions of Jews, Russians and Poles.
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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.
