The arrest of four former members of one of the Nazi war time execution squads in West Berlin was announced today by the West Berlin Law Court. Former SS Brigade Leader Lother Beutel of West Berlin was listed as one of the four members of Einsaztgruppe IV who was arrested. Names of the other three were withheld. The court said the four men were accused of participating in mass murders of Jews in Eastern Europe.
The prosecution in the Frankfurt trial of 20 former personnel of the Auschwitz death camp completed its presentation today with a demand for life terms for 16 of the former camp officials, life terms with limitations for two others and acquittal of two for lack of evidence.
The trial began on December 20, 1963 and extended through 153 court sessions, the longest Nazi war crimes trial in West Germany. Between 3,000,000 and 4,000,000 victims, most of them Jews, were put to death in Auschwitz during the war. Some 360 witnesses have testified to multiple acts of beatings, torture and murder by the defendants.
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.
