Accused War Criminals Circumvent Trials
(N.Z. Press Association—Copyright)
FRANKFURT, February 14. A former Nazi doctor hanged himself in prison yesterday, five days before his war crimes trial for allegedly helping to kill 100,000 mentally and physically handicapped Germans and Jews. The doctor, Werner Heyde, aged 61, died less than 24 hours after a fellow-accused, Friedrich Tillman, plunged to his death from a Cologne office building.
A third accused in the trial, Gerhard Bohne, aged 61, jumped bail and is reported to be in Buenos Aires. The fourth and last of the defendants. Dr. Hans Hefelmann, is ill and on bail in Munich.
Heyde was the third suspected Nazi criminal to meet a violent death this month before coming to trial. A former bodyguard of Chancellor Eirhard, Ewald Peters, hanged himself in his goal cell on February 2. Heyde hanged himself with his trouser belt in the maximum security Hutzbach prison near Frankfurt. He was still alive when found, but died 10 minutes later in hospital. Heyde was accused of taking part in the killing of more than 100,000 people under Hitler’s euthanasia programme.
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Bibliographic details
Press, Volume CIII, Issue 30366, 15 February 1964, Page 13
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183Accused War Criminals Circumvent Trials Press, Volume CIII, Issue 30366, 15 February 1964, Page 13
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