Nazi Responsible for Deportation of Jews is Whitewashed

There are no grounds for initiating disciplinary proceedings against German Ambassador Werner von Bargen, the Bundestag was told here by top government officials. The Bundestag has been insisting for more than two years that the diplomat be suspended for instigating the deportation of East European Jews from Belgium, and for later lying about it under oath.

Early in the war, von Bargen was the representative of the Nazi Foreign Office on the staff of the German Military Commander in Belgium. When anti-Semitic measures were tentatively contemplated, he urged that all Jews originating in Eastern Europe be immediately deported to the gas chambers of Poland, but that those who had been citizens of Beligum for generations be spared for the being, so as not to cause unrest among the native Belgian population. This plea has now been interpreted, by the West German Attorney General for Civil Service Disciplinary Matters, as “a serious effort to prevent, delay and restrict the deportations.”