" Crimes committed elsewhere must also be punished," said Cardinal Frings, Archbishop of Cologne, in a sermon preached on the Sunday before Christmas, recalling the kidnapping and death in Soviet hands of his brother, Judge Frings. In a New Year's sermon, the Cardinal again attacked the notion of the collective guilt of the German People.
Referring to the Nuremberg trials, the Cardinal said : " A sentence has been passed which should atone the terrible eriMCS committed by abuse of the German name. We feel that this atonement would be more perfect if the sentences had been rendered by German . judges, according to German laws valid at the time these crimes were committed.
crimes
" MY BROTHER"
" Half a year ago I referred to the fact that 14 Supreme Court justices of Leipzig were arrested last August by the Soviet authorities. Among them was my brother. a man against whom there was no political reproach. a splendid Catholic, a man who was righteous to the core and whom the Americans had appointed member of a Commission to restore the integrity of German law.
" These prisoners were dragged from one camp to another. They were left in utter misery. They starved and died of typhoid fever. My brother is dead. How many of the others are still alive I do not know. They received no priestly assistance and no Christian burial. " No one has contradicted my statement. The families have not received any death notices. There is no indication that anyone made an effort to examine these charges. to find the guilty and to punish them. Many similar instances of criminal acts could be cited; none of them finds a judge."
" 1 REFUTE"
In his sermon on New Year's Eve the Cardinal said: " To-day I refute those who constantly admit the collective guilt of the German people. Only the individual can be guilty of a crime. not the people as a whole."
In reference to present conditions in Germany the Cardinal said: " The people of the Rhineland do not desirea public life determined by Nihilist, Communist or materialist principles. but want a public life based on Christian principles.