Robert Mulka, the wartime assistant commandant of the Auschwitz concentration camp, who was sentenced last August to 14 years’ imprisonment at hard labor for his war crimes, was released from prison today. The reason given for his release was that he was ill. He was known as the Eichmann of Auschwitz.”
Mulka was considered one of the major Nazis responsible for the murder of several hundred thousand Jews at Auschwitz. During the 20-month long trial of leading Auschwitz personnel, he was accused of many atrocities. His 14-year sentence was the highest term given to all but six of the 20 defendants. The latter were sentenced to life imprisonment.
Consternation over Mulka’s release was expressed here today. The State Prosecutor at Frankfurt, where the trial had been held, immediately filed a complaint against the freeing of Mulka. It was pointed out that long-term prisoners who become ill are usually transferred to a prison hospital, instead of being released outright.
(The Dutch Auschwitz Committee today sent a telegram to West Germany’s Chancellor Ludwig Erhard, protesting Mulka’s release, according to a Jewish Telegraphic Agency dispatch received today from The Hague. The Dutch group called the freeing of Mulka “an offense against the victims of Nazism.”)
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.
