Czech Court Trying Commander of Theresienstadt Camp; Jews Testify to Atrocities

http://archive.jta.org/article/1946/10/20/2744223/czech-court-trying-commander-of-theresienstadt-camp-jews-testify-to-atrocities

October 20, 1946


Czech Court Trying Commander of Theresienstadt Camp; Jews Testify to Atrocities

Prague, Oct. 18 (JTA) –

A charge that he was forced to confiscate the rings of Jewish prisoners and later drown them in a swamp was made today by a former prisoner named Hanus at the trial in Litomerice of Heinrich Joeckel, commander of a section of the Theresienstadt concentration camp.



Other witnesses revealed that Jewish political prisoners were treated in a more brutal fashion than other camp inmates. They declared that one prisoner, a Professor Levit, was tortured and his legs broken and then carried to a cemetery to be murdered. However, he revived and committed suicide before he could be tortured further. Other prisoners were forced to hang themselves with wire.



It was also disclosed that numerous officials in the puppet government witnessed the horrible tortures. One witness related how Joekel, himself, beat a pregnant Jewish woman on the abdomen until an abortion occurred.



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"Czech Court Trying Commander of Theresienstadt Camp; Jews Testify to Atrocities." Jewish Telegraphic Agency 20 Oct 1946.