The long-delayed trial of S.S. General Karl Oberg, known as the “Butcher of Paris,” during the Nazi occupation of France, and his adjutant, Col. Helmuth Knochen, began here with the reading of a 241-page charge sheet, including responsibility for the persecution of French Jews and the deportation and death of some 120,000 Jews from France.
An entire chapter in the charge sheet is devoted to crimes of the defendants against Jews, including: the deportation of the 120,000 Jews, very few of whom survived the Nazi holocaust; the destruction of French synagogues; forcing Jews to wear a yellow Star of David on their clothes; and for promulgation of a law denaturalizing all French naturalized Jews so as to provide a legal basis for their mistreatment as foreigners. The defendants have pleaded the now-familiar excuse that they were acting on orders from their superiors.
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.
