David Frankfurter, who was sentenced to 18 years in prison by a Swiss court for the murder of a Nazi leader in 1936, died here Monday after a long illness. He was 71 years old.
Frankfurter, born in Croatia, started his medical studies in Germany but was forced to abandon them when the Nazis came to power. He completed his studies in Switzerland, but vowed to kill a leading Nazi to draw attention to Nazi anti-Semitism. He carried out his attack on Wilhelm Gustloff in the Swiss resort village of Davos in February, 1936.
He was released from prison at the end of the war and emigrated to Israel, where he joined the Haganah and worked for various institutions.
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.