Pale and bewildered, David Frankfurter stepped out of jail here yesterday after having spent about nine years in prison for essassinating the Swiss Nazi Leader Wilhelm Gustloff, while the latter was in Davos, Swiss resort. The release of the young Jewish medical student from Yugoslavia was voted on Friday by the Grison Cantonal Council.
Frankfurter, the Jewish Telegraphic Agency was told, plans to emigrate to Palestine, as under the terms of his original sentence he must leave Switerland as soon is conditions permit. “I plan to leave Switzerland and try to start life anew in a country where people can live and work without being molested,” he said. He has had no word of his family since the German invasion of Yugoslavia.
The streets of Chur were crowded and many people wept when they saw the modest young Jew, with a little bag in his right hand, proceed to the railway station a free can, Many shouted “God Gless you.” An old porter at the railway station greeted Frenkfurter with emotion and, offering him a little present, said: “I wish you all the luck in the world.” Prior to leaving the jail, Frankfurter expressea his thanks to the warden and his wife. “Both have done their best to replace my relatives who were either killed or deported by the Germans,” he told reporters.
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The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.