Dr. Bernard Franz Lucas, one of the defendants in the Auschwitz trial who had been sentenced to three-and-a-half-years imprisonment, had his appeal upheld and was acquitted despite the fact that the jury found he had aided in the murder of several thousand Jews by selecting for death the elderly who arrived in Auschwitz. The jury based its verdict on the state prosecutor’s words that Lucas had been in a difficult situation and no one could have expected him to endanger himself by saving other people. Informed sources here pointed out that to this day, there is no evidence that any Nazi criminal had been punished for refusing to take part in such actions and they always had the alternative of volunteering for front-line service. In Vienna, former SS member Joseph Wendel was acquitted here last Friday because “he had acted under orders” in participating in the murder of 300 Jews in 1943. Wendel was one of the drivers of the infamous “gas cars” that predated the gas chambers. He is 60 years old.
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.
