Maurice Papon convicted of war crimes

On April 2, 1998, Maurice Papon was convicted of war crimes for his role in deporting French Jews to concentration camps during the Nazi occupation of France. Under German occupation, Papon served as the supervisor of the Service for Jewish Questions in Bordeaux from which he collaborated with the Nazi SS and oversaw the deportation of 1,560 Jewish men, women, and children to concentration camps.

Read a biography of Maurice Papon from the BBC.

THIS DAY @ LAW

US signed peace treaty with Germany ending World War I

On August 25, 1921, the United States, which never ratified the Versailles Treaty ending World War I, finally signed its own peace treaties with Germany, Austria and Hungary.

Former East Germany leader convicted of manslaughter for Berlin Wall policy

On August 25, 1997, Egon Krenz, the former of East Germany was convicted of manslaughter for promulgating a policy of shooting any East Germans who attempted to cross the Berlin Wall. Krenz was sentenced to six-and-a-half years in prison, of which he served four before being released into retirement from political life.