Reinhold Vorberg, the first Nazi war criminal ever extradited by Spain, arrived here today to stand trial for the “euthanasia” mass murder of 100, 000 “mentally retarded” and “mentally ill” persons, including Jews, during World War II.
The West German Government, in its request for Vorberg’s extradition, charged him with a role in Hitler’s plan to create a “master race. ” Vorberg was arrested in Barcelona last December at the request of the Bonn Government.
Material furnished by East German sources on Professor Werner Heyde, the 59-year-old physician charged with heading the Nazi “euthanasia” program, and Vorberg’s wartime chief, will facilitate further investigations into the cases of several other persons suspected of having participated in the program, Chief Public Prosecutor Fritz Bauer declared here today. He said that the trial of Professor Heyde would probably begin this summer. It was Dr. Bauer who had dug up the Vorberg case and initiated the successful effort to have the man extradited from Spain.
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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.