Otto Rothstock

Otto Rothstock (b. c. 1900 or 1904) was the assassin of Hugo Bettauer.

As a young member of the Nazi party, Rothstock was enraged by Bettauer's satire of Nazi anti-semitism in his popular work, The City Without Jews. On March 10, 1925 Rothstock entered Bettauer's office and shot him five times at point-blank range. Hugo Bettauer died on March 26, 1925 from his wounds.

At his trial, Rothstock justified what he had done as necessary to save German culture from the menace of Jewish degeneration. His lawyer, Walter Riehl, (himself a Nazi functionary) argued that his client guilty but insane, with which the jury agreed. However within twenty months Rothstock was released as 'cured'.

References

Sources

• Sachar, Howard M. (2002). Dreamland: Europeans and Jews in the Aftermath of the Great War. New York: Knopf. ISBN 9780375409141