A witness in the trial of 12 former Nazis in the wartime murder of 35,000 Jews in the Minsk ghetto in Nazi-occupied Russia was himself charged with such killings and arrested here today for trial.
The witness was Reinhard Breder of Winkel, a 52-year-old economic adviser and former deputy SD commander at Minsk. He was confronted at the Jury court trial of Georg Heuser and 11 other Nazis with a Soviet “Brown Book” recently submitted to the court.
According to the documents in the Soviet publication, Breder was responsible for the killing of some 2,000 Jews at Cluzk. Breder denied the charge, saying there never was “an execution pit under my command.” He also said he was elsewhere at the time and was admonished by the Court President, A, Randebrock,to tell the truth.
After the testimony, Breder was arrested at the request of the Wiesbaden public prosecutor’s officer, The former SD officer, against whom proceedings have been pending, was taken to Coblenz prison from the jury court room. On March 18, Breder will be confronted with another witness, who will be brought to the prison.
Several public prosecutors in West German courts recently held a meeting here to study the documents in the Soviet Brown Book.
Meanwhile, the court ruled today that it is not necessary to call to the witness stand a high official of the Federal Ministry of Economic Cooperation who was himself been accused of having been a Nazi collaborator.
The defense had asked permission to put on the stand this official, Dr. Friedrich Karl Vialon. The court ruled that the questions to have been asked of him by the defense “are not of vital importance to the trial.”
Earlier this year, Dr. Vialon, who had been an official in the Nazi administration of the Eastern Territories, was slated for appointment as State Secretary of the Finance Ministry. After protests against his choice for the post, the position was given to another appointee. While he is now on the top staff of the Ministry of Economic Cooperation, he is said to be an expert on problems of indemnification of victims of Nazism.
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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.
