The West German Government formally denounced today the trial of Dr. Hans Globke, West German Undersecretary of State, which opened before the East German Supreme Court in East Berlin yesterday, as the climax of a systematic propaganda campaign against the former official of the Nazi Ministry of the Interior.
Dr. Globke, who is being tried in absentia, was charged by the East German regime with war crimes and crimes against humanity. The 168-page indictment read at the opening of the trial, charged that Dr. Globke, between 1932 and 1945, created the legal groundwork for the Nazi dictatorship, particularly for the persecution of Jews, through his work in the Reich Ministry. Similar charges have been aired against Dr. Globke in West Germany.
Gunther von Hase, the Bonn Government spokesman, charged that the trial was aimed at Chancellor Konrad Adenauer, “his closest colleague, against the Chancellor himself and against the Federal Republic.” The spokesman said that the charges against Dr. Globke had been investigated by a number of courts and prosecutors in West Germany and had been “found to be untrue. ” von Hase repeated earlier statements by the Government that there were “in fact documents” showing that Dr. Globke had worked against the Nazis and had helped many people in danger of persecution during the Nazi regime.
He added that the trial was “a show trial,” referring to the fact that the opening of the proceedings in East Berlin was televised throughout the Communist bloc.
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.
