As in hundreds of other U.S. zone cities and towns last week, the 33,000 citizens of Schwäbisch-Gmünd were electing a Bürgermeister. Up for re-election was Franz Czisch, a 40-year-old grocer and Christian Democrat whom the Nazis had once expelled from law school as a "half-Jew." Opposing him, on a no-party ticket, was Franz Konrad, Bürgermeister under Hitler, twice denazified by his neighbors.
On the basis of efficient administration, Czisch was the favorite to win. More than that, his work in behalf of 2,200 Christian and Jewish refugees who had come to Schwäbisch-Gmünd from beyond the Iron Curtain won him a commendation...
To continue reading:
or
Log-In
