Dr. M. Schmidt, Prussian minister of justice, today ordered the state attorney to take over the prosecution of M. Kohler, a Hitlerite alderman from Glatz, who had been acquitted last month of a charge of libel growing out of his allegetion that M. Elgutter, a Jewish merchant, had paid 200 marks to a group of people to break up a meeting of the Hitlerites.
In acquitting Kohler, Judge Lehman had praised him for acting in the interests of the people. Judge Lehman declared that as chairman of the Glatz Nazi party, which fights the Jews, it was Kohler’s duty to convince his party members that the Jews must be fought by all means.
Judge Lehman’s decision was called to the attention of the Prussian parliament on June 12 by Dr. Hamburger, a Socialist deputy, who demanded that the minister of justice take steps to remedy the situation. Today’s action by the minister of justice is a reply to Dr. Hamburger’s complaint.
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.
