Nazi Obituary: Storm Trooper's Death Notice Draws an Apology

An obituary containing the Nazi storm trooper rank of the deceased has drawn an apology from the major Austrian newspaper which printed the death notice.

The announcement of the death of Lois Plock in the Kleine Zeitung in Vienna noted that he was an "Untersturmfuehrer" – a paramilitary rank of Hitler's special SS forces, reported The Associated Press.  Members of the SS served as Hitler's bodyguard and formed elite police and military units that carried out many of the era's Holocaust atrocities.

Plock's death notice also listed a Nazi-era decoration of the deceased and carried a verse associated with the oath of loyalty sworn by Nazi troops to the German dictator.

The daily's chief editor, Hubert Patterer, apologized for printing the notice on Sunday, one day after it appeared. He called it a "horrible mistake."

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