Paul Grueninger

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Charge:	"Fraud (passing bad checks, documents, casino, bankrupcy, etc.)"
Sentence:	Fined 300 Francs
Years Imprisoned:
Year Crime:
Year Convicted:	1940
Year Cleared:	1995
U.S. State or Country of Crime:	Switzerland
County or Region of Crime:
City of Crime:
Result:	Judicially Exonerated
Summary of Case:	"Paul Grueninger was exonerated by the St. Gallen District Court in November 1995 of his 1940 conviction of fraud for falsifying records and backdating papers so Jewish refugees fleeing Nazi Germany could enter Switzerland. Mr. Grueninger was police chief of St. Gallen when Switzerland closed its borders in 1938, With the aid of both subordinates and superiors, Mr. Grueninger aided over 3,000 fleeing Jews in many ways to circumvent the ban. However because he was at the center of the Swiss officials aiding the Jews, he was targeted as the fall guy. He was dismissed in 1939, stripped of his civil service pension. A year later he was prosecuted and convicted of fraud. Already having been fired and stripped of his pension, his punishment was a fine of 300 francs. Mr. Grueninger found it difficult to find employment for the rest of his life and essentially lived in poverty. He died in 1972. His daughter fought for decades to clear his criminal conviction for what was the single greatest humanitarian effort by a Swiss citizen during the Nazi era. She finally succeeding in 1995."
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Innocence Proved By:
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Was Perpetrator Identified?
Age When Imprisoned:	48
Age When Released:
Sex:	Male
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Information Source 1:	"Captain Paul Grueninger: The Chief of Police Who Saved Jewish Refugess By Refusing To Do His Duty, Francois Rochat and Andre Modigliani, pp. 91-110, in Obedience to Authority: Current Perspectives on the Milgram Paradigm, ed. Thomas Blass, Lawrence Erlbaum Assoc. Publishers, Mahwah, NJ."
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Paul Grueninger

Charge:

"Fraud (passing bad checks, documents, casino, bankrupcy, etc.)"

Sentence:

Fined 300 Francs

Years Imprisoned:

Year Crime:

Year Convicted:

1940

Year Cleared:

1995

U.S. State or Country of Crime:

Switzerland

County or Region of Crime:

City of Crime:

Result:

Judicially Exonerated

Summary of Case:

Conviction Caused By:

Innocence Proved By:

Defendant Aided By:

Compensation Awarded:

Was Perpetrator Identified?

Age When Imprisoned:

48

Age When Released:

Sex:

Male

Skin/Ethnicity:

Information Source 1:

"Captain Paul Grueninger: The Chief of Police Who Saved Jewish Refugess By Refusing To Do His Duty, Francois Rochat and Andre Modigliani, pp. 91-110, in Obedience to Authority: Current Perspectives on the Milgram Paradigm, ed. Thomas Blass, Lawrence Erlbaum Assoc. Publishers, Mahwah, NJ."

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