A 49-year-old Jewish tourist from Germany will be tried there on charges that she was a kapo–a Jew who gained privileges by cooperating with the Nazi–in a wartime concentration camp. A charge sheet was presented today against Mrs. Luba Gritzmacher, a Kovno-born resident of Frankfurt, who arrived in Israel in Israel four months ago and was recognized on a street in Rishon Le-Zion by a former prisoner in the women’s division of the Landsberg camp, an affiliate of Dachau.
Although several women here testified that Mrs. Gritzmacher saved their lives, others said she beat inmates, especially when they were cueing up for food rations or standing in parade formation. The Attorney General’s office claims that Mrs. Gritzmacher kicked and beat a Mrs. Berta Schwartz even after she fell down, and hit Mrs. Schwartz’s daughter, now Mrs. Yehudit Shlovowitz. Also allegedly beaten by Mrs. Gritzmacher were Yehudit Manderowitz and Mary Danelis, the latter suffering broken fingers.
No date has been set for hearings. Defense counsel asked that they be cancelled because the defendant is very sick and the alleged incidents look place very long ago, but the request was denied. There is no statute of limitations here on crimes against Jews.
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.
