Franz Novak, the former SS officer who aided Adolf Eichmann in the annihilation of 6, 000, 000 European Jews, went on trial here today for his war crimes.
In a 70-page indictment, Novak was accused of cooperating with Eichmann in the “final solution” of the Jewish question. The prosecutor charged that Novak was guilty of “active murder” when he provided transportation for millions of Jewish men, women and children who later perished in Hitler’s gas chambers. He was accused of having issued more than 1, 000 orders for the transportation of Jewish victims.
Novak, who served as Eichmann’s transport officer in the Second World War, disappeared after the war and worked under a false name as an agricultural laborer and later in several printing shops. He was arrested in a Vienna printing shop in 1961.
Seventeen witnesses from the United States, West Germany and Hungary are expected to testify during the trial which is to last more than four weeks. Two men from Israel have already given statements in preparation for the trial.
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.
