Berlin: A Jewish World War I veteran was allegedly spared - for a while, at least - from Nazi persecution thanks to a letter that claimed Adolf Hitler wanted him protected, a German Jewish newspaper reported.
The Nazi leader ordered the genocide of all Europe's Jews but apparently wanted Ernst Hess, a judge, to be left alone because they had served in the same WWI unit and Hess had briefly been his commanding officer, said historian Susanne Mauss, who discovered the letter. It was signed by a senior member of the SS paramilitary organisation and dated August 19, 1940.
"It was a wonderful chance find," she told The Associated Press in a telephone interview Friday. "There had always been rumors but this was the first written reference to a protection by Hitler."
The letter was found in official archives containing files that the Nazi secret police, or Gestapo, kept on Jewish lawyers and judges. Mauss said its authenticity is corroborated by other documents, including one owned by Hess's surviving daughter Ursula....
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08:50 AM, Jul 07, 2012
