Two separate trials against four ex-Nazis accused of war crimes were opened in West Germany today. The bigger of the cases, involving two former leaders of the SS, the Hitler Elite Guard, of complicity in the murder of 6,624 Jews at Minsk, in 1941, is expected to last three weeks.
In the latter case, being tried before a jury at Coblenz, Hans H. Remmers, 54, and Karl Zenner, 61, are accused of the mass-murder of the Jews in Minsk. Both had been members of the special commando units charged with killing Jews prior to the establishment of the big death factories.
The second case, also before a jury, at Dusseldorf, involves two men who had served as technicians in the Elite Guard. They are Albert Widman, 48, and Otto Boehm, 70, who were on SS duty at the Sachsenhausen concentration camp. The prosecution alleges that they used poisoned ammunition to kill inmates of Sachsenhausen in 1944.
Meanwhile, at Duisburg, police announced the arrest of three youths charged with having daubed swastikas and anti-Semitic slogans on walls of homes and shops, three weeks ago. Police authorities said all three have admitted they subscribe to Nazi ideology, but a probe is under way to determine whether they are associated with any neo-Nazi organizations.
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.
