An investigating magistrate today spared Herschel Grynszpan the necessity of entering the German Embassy to reconstruct the fatal wounding of Ernst Vom Rath, Embassy secretary, which touched off the renewed wave of anti-Jewish persecution in the Reich. The 17-year-old Polish Jew appealed to the court authorities, “Spare me from entering the German Embassy again,” when notified that he had to face the Reich officials on Dec. 19 for the re-enactment of the entire scene. Accordingly, the judge decided to summon the Embassy witnesses to the court for the reconstruction.
Grynzpan’s lawyers stated that his trial would definitely be public and might take place in July. Germany has been pressing for secret proceedings. The Journalists’ Defense Committee for Grynszpan, formed in the United States on Dorothy Thompson’s initiative, which engaged Grynszpan’s counsel, has demanded trial in open court.
Prison authorities, it was learned, consider the youthful assassin a model prisoner and have placed him in a cell for minors. Letters of sympathy from all parts of the world, including the United States, continue to pour in on him, but he rejects financial assistance from his foreign sympathizers and is maintained exclusively by his relatives.
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.
