A 19-year-old University of California student, Miss Lynda Koolish, was notified today that she is to appear before Berkeley City Judge Floyd C. Talbott on May 11, on charges of assault and battery growing out of an attack she made against a uniformed member of the American Nazi Party, who had tried to address students at the gates leading to the university campus.
Miss Koolish told the Jewish Community Bulletin here that, when she saw the man in a storm-trooper’s uniform, and heard him “harangue against Jews and America,” she could not contain herself and “an uncontrollable impulse moved me to kick him in the pants.” She said that she has a friend who survived incarceration at Auschwitz and another friend who lost both of her parents in that death camp. “I have pleaded not guilty,” she said, “because I believe my action was understandable.”
The student said that, since she was arrested for kicking the Nazi, she has received many letters applauding her action, some of the missives coming from men in the armed forces, and some containing money for her defense. She is defended by Harbert Donaldson, of San Francisco. “Of course, I’ve returned the money,” she added.
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.
