The trial of two members of the neo-Nazi German Reichspartei on charges of slandering the memory of Anne Frank ended yesterday in an agreed settlement. The defendants withdrew their claim that the diary of Anne Frank was a forgery and the prosecution dropped the charges.
Otto Frank, father of the girl who died in a Nazi concentration camp and whose diary became an international best seller, filed the charges against high school teacher Lothar Stielau and Heinrich Buddeberg. The two men had declared that “certain circles” had enriched themselves on the “tragic fate” of Anne Frank while “hatemongering against the German people.”
Following five hours of deliberation in court yesterday, the slander charges were withdrawn when the defendants declared that legal investigation had convinced them of the fallacy of their charge and that the authenticity of the diary was “beyond doubt.”
The prosecution then declared that investigation of the two neo-Nazis had net revealed any anti-Semitic motive behind their claim that the diary was a forgery. It was disclosed that Stileau was suspended from his teaching post two years ago because the Ministry of Education regarded his teaching as detrimental to the “democratic education” of German youth.
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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.
