WEST GERMANY: WEST BERLIN: NAZI WAR CRIMINALS VON SCHIRACH AND SPEER RELEASED FROM SPANDU PRISON.

Record ID: 636563

  • Title: WEST GERMANY: WEST BERLIN: NAZI WAR CRIMINALS VON SCHIRACH AND SPEER RELEASED FROM SPANDU PRISON.
  • Date: 1st October 1966
  • Summary: CROWDS AND NEWSMEN OUTSIDE PRISON; CARS LEAVE; HOTEL PRESS CONFERENCE WITH SPEER (SOF) AND WIFE; SECOND HOTEL PRESS CONFERENCE WITH VON SCHIRACH (SOF) AND SON. Initials Script is copyright Reuters Limited. All rights reserved
  • Embargoed: 16th October 1966 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: WEST BERLIN, WEST GERMANY
  • Country: Germany
  • Topics: Crime,General,Politics
  • Reuters ID: LVA4KZA6315RU7DGM0TCSSOU77SW
  • Story Text: CROWDS SURGED OUTSIDE GRIM RED-BRICK SPANDAU PRISON EARLY TODAY (SATURDAY) DEMANDING THE RELEASE OF RUDOLPH HESS, NOW THE LAST NAZI WAR CRIMINAL DETAINED THERE. THROUGHOUT THE DAY THERE HAD BEEN SPECIAL PREPARATIONS FOR THE MIDNIGHT RELEASE OF BALDUR VON SCHIRACH AND ALBERT SPEER, COMPLETING 20-YEAR SENTENCES IMPOSED AT THE NUREMBURG TRIALS.
    THE 3,000 CROWD SHOUTED "LET HESS GO" AND "HEIL HESS" AS THE TWO RELEASED MEN DROVE TO LUXURY HOTELS IN WEST BERLIN WITH MEMBERS OF THEIR FAMILIES WHO HAD COME TO MEET THEM. THE DEMONSTRATION OUTSIDE THE PRISON WAS NOT A SERIOUS ONE. GRINNING YOUNGSTERS NOT EVEN BORN IN THE DAYS OF THE NAZI REICH JOINED IN LIGHTHEARTED BAITING OF THE POLICE. MOSTLY TEENAGERS, THEY BOOED, WHISTLED AND CLAPPED AS VON SCHIRACH AND SPEER EMERGED ON THE STROKE OF MIDNIGHT.
    SPEER, 61, AND VON SCHIRACH, 59, WHO STRUTTED BESIDE ADOLF HITLER IN HIS DAYS OF GLORY, BOTH TALKED TO NEWSMEN LATER.
    SPEER, HITLER'S FAVOURITE ARCHITECT WHO BECAME WARTIME ARMAMENTS MINISTER, WORE A BLUE BATTLE-DRESS BLOUSE, AND LOOKED LIKE A STOCKBROKER ABOUT TO POTTER IN HIS GARDEN. ONLY A PRISON PALLOR SHOWED THE LONG ORDEAL JUST ENDED. LOOKING HAPPY AS HE HELD HANDS WITH HIS WIFE, MARGARETHE, HE CHIDED NEWSMEN FOR THINKING SPANDAU WAS STILL IN THE STALINIST ERA, AND SAID THEY HAD BEEN CORRECTLY AND POLITELY TREATED. HE SAID HE HOPED TO GET BACK TO WORK AND BE A BETTER ARCHITECT THAN BEFORE.
    VON SCHIRACH, BLIND IN ONE EYE AND SUFFERING FROM THROMBOSIS FIRST ELUDED NEWSMEN, BUT LATER GAVE AN INTERVIEW IN WHICH HE ADDRESSED A SPECIAL MESSAGE OF THANKS TO DOCTORS WHO TREATED HIM FOR EYE TROUBLE AT THE BRITISH MILITARY HOSPITAL.
    ALTHOUGH PALE AND WHITE HAIRED, VON SCHIRACH, FORMER HITLER YOUTH LEADER AND GOVERNOR OF VIENNA, SPOKE CONFIDENTLY AND SEEMED IN REASONABLE HEALTH.
    THE ONLY MAN REMAINING IN SPANDAU IS 72 YEAR-OLE HESS, HITLER'S FORMER DEPUTY. HIS RELEASE FROM A LIFE SENTENCE FOR PLANNING AGGRESSIVE WAR IS FAVOURED BY THE WESTERN ALLIES, BUT BLOCKED BY THE SOVIET UNION. YESTERDAY (FRIDAY), HOWEVER, RUSSIA TOLD BRITAIN AND AMERICA THAT SHE WAS WILLING TO HAVE TALKS ABOUT THE RE-ORGANISATION OF SPANDAU, NOW THAT HESS IS THE ONLY PRISONER.
    SPEAKING MAINLY IN GERMAN BUT WITH BRIEF COMMENTS IN ???
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