Justice at last for Jews' rescuer

St Gallen - A Swiss court cleared the name of a police chief convicted 55 years ago of falsifying documents to rescue up to 3,000 Jews from the Nazis. Jews saved by Paul Grueninger, who died a broken man aged 80 in 1972, hailed the verdict by the court here as a victory over racism and intolerance.

"The first lesson is not to be racist or judge people by their origin but to judge them instead, as Grueninger did, for what they are," said Harry Weinreb, 74, saved by Grueninger in 1938 when he fled from German- annexed Austria. The court president, Werner Baldegger, delivering the verdict in the room where Grueninger was tried in 1940, said the police chief had acted as an "emergency helper" when he falsified papers to enable refugees to find sanctuary. Reuter