An officer of engineers in the new West German Army was found guilty in the county court today of “technical insult” in using abusive, anti-Semitic language towards a non-commissioned officer of half-Jewish origin and ordered to pay a fine equivalent to $100. The case was the first known incident of anti-Semitism in the Bundeswehr.
According to testimony heard in the court, Captain. Heinrich Neimann, 36, of an engineer training battalion, used vile anti-Jewish invective toward Corporal Eugen von Elmpt, who is half-Jewish, and a Bundeswehr volunteer. Neimann, an officer in the Wehrmacht, was awarded the Knight’s Cross by Hitler.
When Niemann subsequently failed to apologize for his remarks, von Elmpt filed a formal complaint. Neimann was suspended from duty and disciplinary proceedings commenced. As the new German army does not yet have a court martial procedure, the case went to the county court where the prosecutor asked for a five-month prison sentence. A charge of “humiliating abasement of a subordinate” was dropped on technical grounds.
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.
