The most sensational reparations trial in post-war German history ended with a surprise. A Bonn district court Thursday acquitted Prof. Hans Deutsch on charges of fraud, perjury and incitement to perjury. The 66 year-old lawyer and two co-defendants had been charged nine years ago with swindling 17.5 million Deutsche marks (approximately $6.5 , million at current exchange rates) in government reparations to victims of Nazi plundering during World War II.
The 17.5 million marks had been paid by the West German government to Deutsch who represented the heirs of a Hungarian sugar merchant whose art collection allegedly had been confiscated by the Nazis as “Jewish property.” Deutsch was arrested on the steps of the Bonn Finance Ministry in 1964 when he traveled here from his home in Switzerland to collect the second installment of 17.5 million as the final payment in the total settlement of 35 million marks.
In acquitting the three defendants, the court found that, though the whereabouts of the valuable paintings is still not known, there is no proof that Deutsch knowingly defrauded the State or incited the other two defendants to give false testimony. The court ordered the State to bear the costs of the six-month trial and to compensate the defendants for the 19 months they spent in investigative confinement. The prosecutor said he will appeal the verdict to a higher court.
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.
