ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1995, Roanoke Times
DATE: Friday, December 1, 1995 TAG: 9512010041
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A-5 EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: ST. GALLEN, SWITZERLAND
SOURCE: MARY WILLIAMS WALSH LOS ANGELES TIMES
HE DIDN'T LIVE TO SEE IT - he died a broken man 23 years ago - but relatives of the police captain known as Switzerland's Oskar Schindler finally have the verdict they wanted.
Throughout his adult life, Paul Grueninger was a marked man: Convicted by a Swiss court of illegally helping as many as 3,000 Austrian Jews cross into Switzerland and flee the gathering Nazi storm, he was dismissed from the national constabulary, evicted from his apartment, shunned by his community. Rumors flared that he had filched valuables from defenseless refugees and taken advantage of Jewish girls.
Grueninger died in dishonor in Switzerland in 1972, 80 years old, broken and impoverished. But Thursday, 23 years after his death, the man now known as Switzerland's Oskar Schindler has been exonerated - in the same provincial courthouse where he was convicted in 1940 of falsifying the immigration documents of Jewish refugees to help them enter Switzerland.
``I'm glad it's over,'' said Grueninger's daughter, Ruth Roduner, whose only visible emotion was fatigue while the presiding judge made his brief remarks. ``It lasted a long time - 55 years.''
The decision, by a five-judge panel of St. Gallen's district court, marked the end of a lengthy battle by a small but dogged group of Grueninger's admirers, including several former refugees now living in the United States. It also marked a breakthrough for Switzerland, a country that has been reluctant to acknowledge the accommodationist behavior of its officials during the years of Nazi encirclement.
``We wanted not only to restore Grueninger's honor posthumously, but we were also concerned about the Swiss version of history,'' said Paul Rechsteiner, a lawyer and member of Parliament who argued Grueninger's case before the St. Gallen court. ``Switzerland has to learn about this case, so that these things are never repeated.''
In 1938, Adolph Hitler annexed Austria, setting off a tide of would-be refugees to neutral Switzerland. Many of them entered through St. Gallen.
Switzerland didn't want the refugees, so it closed its borders to Jews on Aug. 19, 1938. The Swiss interior ministry asked Nazi Germany to mark the passports of all German and Austrian Jews with a large, red ``J.''
The Nazis were only too happy to oblige.
It then became Grueninger's job to turn back anyone with a ``J'' on his or her passport. A quiet and unexceptional man remembered more for his love of soccer than for his political views, Grueninger left no diary and few letters explaining why he decided to buck the system and save so many Jews at such a crushing personal cost.
The Gestapo got wind of Grueninger's actions and complained to Swiss authorities. He was fired, stripped of his pension, thrown out of his state-sponsored apartment, and convicted of forgery.
LENGTH: Medium: 58 linesby CNB