Two Rumanian-Jewish youths are in jail here, facing ten years imprisonment, because they attempted to find the Nazi who murdered the father of one of them, the Jewish Telegraphic Agency learned today.
Their story begins in Oct., 1943, in Cluj, Rumania, where the father of 18-year-old Andor Horowitz was arrested and murdered by a Gestapo agent. Shortly after-wards, Andor and his mother and five younger brothers and sisters were sent to Oswiecim. Last May, when the war in Europe ended, only Andor remained alive, somewhere in the Austrian Tyrol.
Determined to seek vengeance from the man who murdered his father, he returned to Cluj and obtained a photograph of the Gestapo agent from a local photographer. Across the back of the photo was written the name of a Bavarian town. After traveling hundreds of miles mostly by foot, Andor reached the town, where he enlisted the aid of UNRRA, the military police and the local burgomeister.
The latter recognized the photo and mentioned that the agent had a sister named Schneider in Hoechst, a suburb of Frankfurt. Andor, through the aid of UNRRA, was transferred to the Lampertheim Camp, which is about 50 miles south of here. There he met a friend of his concentration camps days, Ber Blum, who also came from Cluj.
Although both youths desired to get to Palestine as soon as possible, where Andor could resume his trade of watch-making, and Ber could complete his medical studies, they decided to make an attempt to find the Gestapo agent. After several days of wandering the streets of Hoechst, seeking information from pedestrians, they were directed to the home of the agent’s sister.
When they arrived there, they found a woman washing clothes, who denied that she knew anyone named Schneider. However, Andor spied a photograph similar to the one in his possession, and confronted with this evidence, the woman admitted that the agent was her brother, but said that he had been killed at Leningrad.
“IT’S PITY SOME JEWS STILL LIVING,” SAYS NAZI WOMAN
When Andor replied that that was impossible, since he had seen him in Cluj after the Battle of Leningrad, the woman shouted: “This country isn’t Palestine” and “it’s a pity that some Jews are still living.” She then attempted to strike Andor with her washboard. He ducked and shoved her back. She fell against some furniture and arose with a bloody nose and screaming for help. All this time, Ber stood on the sideline, doing nothing.
When American military police arrived, they arrested both boys and laughed at Andor when he asked that they help him retrieve the photo. That was on Feb. 11, and they are still in jail awaiting trial, which has now been scheduled for next week.
Capt. Alan Fraser, a Texas lawyer, attached to the legal section of the AMG here, displayed a complete lack of interest in the case’s background, when questioned by a JTA correspondent today. He kept reiterating that it was his job to keep law and order, and he was openly sceptical concerning the youths’ story.
He revealed that he will be the sole officer presiding at the boys’ trial, which will take place before the AMG Intermediate Court, which is authorized to hand out ten-year sentences. Fraser said, however, that the youths will be able to appeal to headquarters at Weisbaden, and then added hastily, “If convicted, of course.”
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.
