Norkus, a Hitler Youth member, had died from injuries suffered while being chased and confronted by Communist youths in the night of 23/24 January 1932 in the Beusselkietz neighbourhood of Moabit, Berlin.[4] Already on the next morning, Joseph Goebbels began to use Norkus' death for propaganda purposes during a rally in Berlin's Sportpalast.[5] The funeral on 29 January at Plötzensee, Berlin, was turned into a major ceremony of several Nazi party organizations, under the aegis of Goebbels.[5] While the murder was condemned also by non-Nazi press, the Communists started a counter-propaganda offensive, describing the incident as an accidental result of Communist self-defence during a Nazi attack.[6] In the subsequent trial, several people were sentenced by the Landgericht I court in Moabit[clarification needed], yet the most prominent accomplices Willi Simon, Bernhard Klingbeil and Harry Tack had been able to escape to the Soviet Union.[5]