Ex-Nazis are occupying prominent posts in the East German (Communist) Government, including the Cabinet, the judiciary, parliament and in universities, according to a report published here today by the West Berlin “Committee of Free Jurists.”
Communist propaganda has been charging, recently, that former Nazis occupy high places in the Federal Republic of Germany. In hitting back, the committee today made public these facts:
East German Minister of Agriculture Hans Reichelt and Minister of Supply Kurt Merkel are former Nazis. Two other former East German Cabinet members–former Minister of Health Luitpold Steidle and Werner Winkler, ex-Minister for the Chemical Industry–resigned only a year ago because West German sources revealed their Nazi past, according to the committee here.
The committee here contends that the rectors of the universities of East Berlin and Greifswald are former Nazis, as well as the rector of the Teachers Seminary at Potsdam According to the report, 56 members of the present East German parliament are former Nazis, as against 29 ex-Nazis who served in the same chamber prior the last election in 1958.
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.
