Wolfgang Fraenkel, the only attorney appointed recently to the staff of the West German Federal Prosecutor’s office, was suspended today on charges that he had participated in “unlawful judgments” in the Hitler People’s Court during the Nazi regime. Dr, Wolfgang Stammberger, Minister of Justice, ordered the suspension, since the June 30 deadline for the resignation of People’s Court judges and prosecutors has expired. Fraenkel had been an assistant to the chief prosecutor in Leipzig during the Nazi regime.
So far, reports from the West German states to Stemmberger indicate, about 100 members of the present judiciary have resigned, heeding the order that those who did not quit by June 30 would be investigated as to their Peoples Court activities. However, at least 30 judges and prosecutors have failed to quit voluntarily and will now, according to the Justice Ministry, be probed in searching investigations already launched, Fraenkel is the first suspended under the ruling.
The Bundestag, lower House of Parliament, had decreed the order setting June 30 as the deadline. The members of the judiciary affected are those who participated in Peoples Court actions resulting in death penalties. Unofficial figures have indicated that nearly 12, 000 members of the present judiciary apparatus were involved.
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.
