> >
Print

Germany 2005

 

The breaking of the taboo on antisemitism, 60 years after the end of WWII, is evidenced in a steady increase in antisemitic manifestations. Holocaust memorials and Jewish cemeteries continued to be the main target of antisemites of all political stripes in 2005. Many demonstrations in 2005 linked to the 60th anniversary of the end of WWII were organized by or included participants of the far right. In April, two years after an attempt to ban the party had almost succeeded, two judges of the Constitutional Court of Germany began to re-examine the possibility of outlawing the NPD. A new law providing for means to outlaw antisemitic manifestations and declaring them unconstitutional was adopted.

 

the jewish community

Germany's Jewish population continued to grow. According to government estimates, there are now more than 200,000 Jews, making it the fastest growing community in the Diaspora. This increase is due mainly to immigration, with some 20,000 Jews (principally from the Former Soviet Union − FSU) settling there per annum. The largest Jewish centers are Berlin, Frankfurt, Munich and Hamburg, but Jewish communities are active in most other large urban areas. Religious, cultural, and social support is provided to a total of 83 communities. In many cities, especially those in former East Germany, newcomers from the FSU account for the majority of Jews.

The Zentralrat acts as the roof organization of German Jewry, with headquarters in Berlin. There are synagogues in most cities with communities, and the larger communities have Jewish schools as well. The weekly Allgemeine Jüdische Wochenzeitung is the most prominent of a number of publications which serve the Jews of Germany. The Frankfurt-based Tribüne is the leading Jewish scholarly journal. The Jewish Museum in Berlin, opened in 2001, has become an important cultural center of the capital.

            One of the largest Holocaust restitution cases was finally settled when the heirs of the Wertheim Family, one of Germany's greatest pre-war retailers, recovered from the KarstadtQuelle concern their family's real estate holdings in Berlin, said to be worth more than US $100 million.

 

POLITICAL PARTIES AND EXTRA-PARLIAMENTARY GROUPS

Extreme Right Parties

According to the authorities, some 39,000 persons belonged to the extreme right wing of the political spectrum in 2005, a slight loss in membership compared to 2004 (40,700). However, the number of extreme right-wing parties and groupings rose from 168 in 2004 to 183 in 2005.

The Nationaldemokratische Partei Deutschlands (German National Democratic Party − NPD; founded 1964) is the oldest and most influential among the far right parties. After Udo Voigt became head of the NPD in 1996, the party opened its ranks to young skinheads and violent neo-Nazis, especially from the eastern part of Germany.

Its continuing strategy of appealing for the building of an extreme right-wing Volksfront (popular front) and intensive cooperation with neo-Nazis was successful in 2005, evidenced by the fact that the NPD was the only extreme right party that showed an increase in membership and sympathizers.

Ideologically, the NPD stands for what it calls “German völkisch socialism.” The party organ, Deutsche Stimme, published since 1976, has a circulation of about 10,000 and can be downloaded from their Internet site. Vehemently racist (it blames foreigners for Germany’s social and economic difficulties), antisemitic and anti-American, its main propaganda themes are anti-globalization (Nationalisten gegen Globalisierung − nationalists against globalization) and anti-Israel/anti-Jewish incitement. It also believes Germans have been made to feel too much guilt regarding the Holocaust.

Pressure to take action against the party came to a head on 21 January 2005 when NPD deputies in Saxony’s parliament refused to take part in a minute’s silence for victims of the Nazis during commemoration of the 60th anniversary of the liberation of the Auschwitz death camp, demanding that the ceremony be restricted to commemorating the victims of the Allied “bombing holocaust” of Dresden, in February 1945. The parliament rejected the request. In April, two years after an attempt to ban the NPD had almost succeeded (see ASW 2003/4), two judges of the Constitutional Court of Germany began to re-examine the possibility of outlawing it.

In the meantime, the NPD continued to pursue the following objectives:

  • Kampf (Schlacht) um die Strasse (Struggle/battle for the street), a successful campaign evidenced in the weekend parades, demonstrations or meetings organized throughout Germany, especially in the east, the former GDR, together with sympathizers from the neo-Nazi scene, the Kameradschaften and often with a guest from abroad.
  • Kampf um die Parlamente (Struggle for the parliaments), which was especially successful in 2004 and in January 2005 when it received 4 percent in the state elections in Saarland and 9.2 percent in Saxony (190,000 votes), respectively.
  • Kampf um die Köpfe (Struggle for minds), which includes not only opening the party to radical right-wing elements but also recruitment from other political sectors. On 25 June Holger Apfel, vice chairman of the NPD, declared in Grunda that the party intends to attract left-wing voters especially from the eastern part of Germany. He was responding to a statement of Oskar Lafontaine, of the left-wing WASP/PDS party, that German labor needs to be protected from foreign workers. On 23 February the London Times reported that neo-Nazis were trying to recruit conservative university students in the Hessen region of Germany for leadership positions.
  • Kampf um den organisierten Willen (Struggle for the organized will), added in 2004 by Voigt during the party convention − the attempt to gain power by unifying all national groups.

The NPD uses 120 websites to disseminate its propaganda.

The Republikaner (REPS) was founded in 1983 by two former Christian Democratic MPs who disagreed with the CDU/CSU’s soft line toward the German Democratic Republic. In 1986, Franz Schönhuber, a TV presenter and journalist who had lost his job after writing a book praising the SS, became chairman of the REP. A charismatic populist, he shaped the party’s image and program for almost ten years. At least in public speeches Schönhuber began avoiding references to the Nazi past and tried to establish the REPS as a far right alternative to the Christian Democrats (CDU). Schönhuber died in December 2005 at the age of 82.

The REP defends the welfare state but wants to limit its benefits to native Germans. This political concept has been symbolized in the image of a crowded lifeboat representing Germany, which appears frequently in their propaganda.

The REPS has been led since 1994 by Dr. Rolf Schlierer. Membership has been decreasing continually over the last years. In 2005 REPS membership was down to 6,500, exactly half of its registration in 2000.

The youth organization, Republikaner Jugend, uses slogans such as “Socialist – Patriotic – Ecologic,” demonstrating its attempts to appear respectable and its distance from extremists such as the NPD and the DVU (see below).

Like all extreme right-wing parties, the REPS use the Internet extensively. Their party organ Der Republikaner is online (http://www.der-republikaner.de). Their main agitation is directed against foreigners and against the so-called africanization and islamization of German society.

The Deutsche Volksunion (German Peoples’ Union − DVU), has been dominated by the millionaire publisher, Dr. Gerhard Frey for almost 30 years. Founded in 1987, it remains the largest extreme right-wing political party in Germany, with ca. 9,000 members in 2005, although this still represents a decrease from the year 2000 when it had almost 17,000 members. The weekly National-Zeitung/Deutsche Wochenzeitung reflects the party’s xenophobic, antisemitic, anti-American and anti-Israel tendencies.

In January the DVU won 6.1 percent of the vote in the Brandenburg state elections (see ASW 2004). On 15 January the NPD and the DVU signed an agreement during the DVU party convention in Munich to continue their strategy of campaigning jointly for the 2006 federal election. While the NPD’s task was to appeal to the ‘national revolutionary’ electorate, the DVU was to mobilize conservatives and patriots (Deutsche Stimme, Feb. 2005).

In assessing the influence of the extreme right in Germany, it should be noted that during the 2005 federal parliamentary elections, in west Germany, 5 percent of young men between the ages of 18 to 24 voted for the NPD. In east Germany, the NPD received about 10 percent, notably, in Saxony-Anhalt, Brandenburg, Thuringia and Saxony.

As observed in previous years, the former GDR appears to be particularly fertile ground for spreading extreme right propaganda due to the lack of activities for youth. Most of the recruiting is done in rural areas, a phenomenon called ‘village fascism’ (Der Spiegel, 23 May 2005). Politicization through music is used aggressively by extreme right-wing leaders to recruit east German youth. Thus, the NPD sponsors trips to demonstrations and concerts, including free beer and lunches (see ASW 2004).

 

Extra-parliamentary Extreme Right Groups and Activities

According to the Federal Office for the Defense of the Constitution (BFV), the number of neo-Nazis activists in 2005 was 4,100, an increase of almost 10 percent over 2004 (3,800). Since 1995, most neo-Nazis have been organized into extra-parliamentary Freie Kameradschaften (free associations), with no centralized structure; they keep in close contact via the Internet and other means of electronic communication. One hundred and sixty Kameradschaften were active in 2005. The only nationwide neo-Nazi organization is the Organization for the Assistance of National Political Prisoners and Their Families (HNG), founded in 1979. The HNG, with some 600 members, publishes the journal Nachrichten HNG (600 copies per month). Berlin lawyer Wolfgang Narrath, a leading HNG figure, was formerly head of the outlawed neo-Nazi Viking Youth organization. The HNG site, HNG-Nachrichten.com, was registered with American neo-Nazi Gerhard Lauck of the NSDAP-AO, Lincoln, Nebraska, who appears as the administrative contact. Lauck was imprisoned in Germany from August 1996 until March 1999.

 

Violent Activities

Countrywide, the police registered 958 violent acts motivated by extreme right-wing ideology, a rise of 23 percent (2004: 816); this tendency was also observed in extreme right-wing crimes, which rose by 25 percent from 12,051 in 2004 to 15,361 in 2005. The number of unreported cases is considered much higher, according to organizations dealing with the victims of racist violence in Germany. On 3 February 2006 the anti-Fascist Apabiz and ReachOut organizations published a report of right-wing incidents in Berlin for the year 2005. It listed 134 events, including 98 violent assaults compared to 53 in 2004. Violent incidents of the extreme right almost doubled in Berlin in 2005.

 

Music

The music scene continues to be a fertile ground for recruiting young members and sympathizers to far right parties and groups. According to the BfV, 193 concerts were held in 2005, a 40 percent rise, while the number of bands increased from 106 to 142. According to a 27 February 2006 press release of the anti-fascist organization Apabiz, there was a 65 percent rise in the number of neo-Nazi concerts that took place in Germany in 2005, from 155 in 2004 to 255. One hundred and twenty-four CDs by German neo-Nazi groups and 38 CDs by foreign neo-Nazi bands were released in Germany. The average number of copies per CD is 3,000. 

Skinhead bands have adopted various styles, including ballads, ‘gangsta’ rap and hip-hop. Nevertheless, the lyrics remain unchanged: glorification of the Aryan race, the Nordic warrior myth and hatred of immigrants and Jews. Neo-Nazi bands play at extreme right political events. The NPD claims they “offer bands from the nationalist world the possibility of going before the public, thereby aiding the process of national integration.” The existence of close links between extreme right-wing political parties and the neo-Nazi music scene is demonstrated by the antisemitic singer Michael Regener, who played his farewell concert before entering prison for three years at the NPD congress in Thüringen in March 2005. Regener, lead singer of the banned group Landser, was accused of disseminating hatred and violence against foreigners and political opponents with provocative lyrics such as “Turks and Commies and all that scum will soon be forever gone,” from a song called “The Reich Will Rise Again.” The German Constitutional Court rejected an appeal by Regener against his sentence.

 

Internet

According to the BfV, there were 1000 extreme right German language sites in 2005. However, a study of the Youth Protection Net (initiated by the Federal Youth Protection Office) considers this number to be only an estimate because of their great fluctuation and variability. Many sites have several web addresses. Under threat of investigations and legal proceedings (German law forbids the dissemination of illegal material on the Internet) operators of extremist sites utilize anonymous services offered by providers worldwide, particularly in the US where they enjoy the privileges of the First Amendment without legal interference. This makes it almost impossible to trace an e-mail sender, for example, and prove offenses such as propagation of Nazism and racism. Operators are becoming increasingly professional, using modern technology to offer attractively presented racist propaganda and music downloads and games. Respectable-looking Holocaust denial sites disseminating antisemitic propaganda such as the myth of a worldwide Jewish conspiracy, constitute a dangerous tool of misinformation to visitors, most of whom are youngsters (see, for example, http://www.vho.org/VffG/1999/2/Rudolf122-126.html, http://unglaublichkeiten.com/unglaublichkeiten/htmlphp/verbrechen.html, http://vho.org/Intro/D/Flugblatt.html) (see also ASW 2004 and previous reports).

 

Demonstrations

Many demonstrations in 2005 linked to the 60th anniversary of the end of WWII were organized by or included participants of the far right. For example: on 12 November, on the eve of the Day of Mourning, an unofficial holiday commemorating the victims of WWII, 2000 neo-Nazis demonstrated in Halbe, outside the largest WWII military cemetery in Germany. On 2 April, 400 neo-Nazis, sponsored by the Augsburg Brotherhood, marched in Munich, to be met by 6,000 counter-demonstrators, while in Verden, 200 neo-Nazis were confronted by 750 pupils. In February the NPD held the largest neo-Nazi march since 1950 to mark the bombing of Dresden in 1945. On 13 February, 6000 extreme rightists, including NPD supporters and neo-Nazis, marched through Dresden. Calling it a funeral march, they wore black and bore banners, while counter-demonstrators carried white roses. Speakers stressed the ‘singularity’ of the bombing, in an attempt to minimize the Holocaust of the Jews and present the Germans as victims, while leftist protestors shouted “Nazis, Out!” On 1 May, 76 persons, including 66 policemen, were wounded in Leipzig during battles between neo-Nazis and counter demonstrators; 104 people were arrested, among them 82 leftists and 9 right extremists. The 830 extreme right participants were opposed by about 4000 counter demonstrators.

Since the 9/11 attacks in the US, extreme rightists have adopted the anti-American and anti-Israel rhetoric of the left, partly in an attempt to make political capital out of these tendencies that are increasingly dominating the public discourse. Anti-American, anti-Nato and pro-Islamist articles supporting terrorist attacks (as a legal means to fight the Israeli/Jewish oppressor) and anti-Israel positions are disseminated on hundreds of Internet sites associated with the extreme right. In most cases, anti-Jewish sentiment appears to be their only common denominator.

The promotion of antisemitic conspiracy theories by the traditionally xenophobic and anti-Muslim extreme right has led to its embrace of radical Islamists. During a demonstration in Essen, for example, on 16 April, under the banner “Keine Waffen für Israel? Keine Unterstützung für Zionisten!” (No weapons for Israel! No help for Zionists), neo-Nazi Axel Reitz (‘Gauleiter Rheinland’ or ‘Gausekretär des Gau Rheinland’) linked the struggle of the Arab world against the US and Israel to that of his group Kampfbund Deutscher Sozialisten. Together, he said, they form what he called a Schicksalsgemeinschaft, a common destiny: “We are far from being as fascist and militant as Israel... The resistance [of the Arab world] even if classified as terrorism is being degraded just as our political activities [are regarded] as criminal.”

 

Muslim Extremists and Turkish Nationalists

Among German Muslim youth, ‘Jew’ has become a swearword. Anti-Israel, sometimes radically antisemitic, propaganda accompanying TV programs that reach Germans of Arab origin daily via satellite, indoctrinate those who do not seek differentiated reporting from the Middle East. “Jews are killing Muslim children” is the message they receive, accompanied by photos or cartoons of mutilated children’s bodies. Antisemitic statements among young Muslims are routine. Since the messages do not derive from extreme right-wing sources, they are easily assimilated into their worldview, according to social scientist Katrin Becker, lecturer at the Alice Salomon Academy, Berlin. A study on antisemitic tendencies among Muslim pupils showed that while antisemitic clichés were supported by a minority during the 1990s, after 11 September 2001 they were adopted by the majority. When asked about their source of information on Jews and Judaism (the Holocaust is widely denied as a Jewish fabrication), young Muslims usually refer to their parents, the Internet and satellite TV (al-Manar), all representing respectable and legitimate sources in their eyes.

While the Turkish version of Hitler’s Mein Kampf (Kavgam) is a hit among Turkish nationalists in Germany, the antisemitic forgery The Protocols of the Elders of Zion is disseminated mostly among Islamists. Further, DVDs of the antisemitic TV series, Sarah’s Blue Eyes, about a Palestinian girl who is forced to give up her eyes to benefit a blind Jewish child, were sold at a book fair held at a mosque in Berlin’s Kreuzberg district (see Daniel Bax and Michael Kiefer, http://www.taz.de/pt/2006/05/02/a0198.1/text). The series, produced in Iran with dubbing in Turkish, serves as an indoctrination tool, the success of which could be seen in events such as the Jewish Simhat Torah holiday services on 25 October, when youngsters of Turkish and Lebanese origin shouted insults at the worshippers at the synagogue in Kreuzberg, Berlin.

Antisemitic publications and TV programs that incite to hatred circulate more freely in Germany among Turkish migrants and within the Islamist community than among German neo-Nazis, since the police are sensitive about entering and searching religious places such as mosques and the material is in Arabic/Turkish. This problem thus constitutes a challenge to the German police and the education system. Banning offensive and inflammatory material is one way. However, as noted, even then, antisemitic materials will still be accessible via Internet or satellite TV.

The once multi-cultural Kreuzberg district in Berlin has become a center for Islamic groups with antisemitic tendencies. In response, in June 2005 a group of Germans of Turkish origin founded the Kreuzberger Initiative against Antisemitism.

 

Antisemitic activity

Attitudes towards the Jews and the Holocaust have been changing in Germany. The much discussed Tabubruch (breaking of the taboo), which has become a central media issue accompanying the debate on antisemitism, has opened the way for manifestations of anti-Israel and anti-Jewish feeling. The taboo on antisemitic expressions was part of the general consensus in postwar German society until the beginning of the 21st century, and was an essential element in the spiritual renewal that finally led to the restoration of a democratic Germany. However, the taboo was also part of the responsibility that the German people took upon themselves, or were obliged to accept, for the Holocaust, a consequence of their sense of guilt for the crimes of Nazi Germany.

The breaking of the taboo, 60 years after the end of WWII, is evidenced in the steady increase in antisemitic manifestations. On 1 November a memorial to Holocaust victims in Dessau was defaced with neo-Nazi slogans, saying “60 years later are we still guilty? No!!!”

No longer limited to the extreme right and the fringes of society, antisemitic trends and arguments masked as anti-Israel statements, have not only linked contradictory ideologies such as those of the far right and far left, but are beginning to penetrate the mainstream. This may be seen as a means of catharsis whereby accusing Israel, as the Jewish state, of Nazi methods, helps to diminish guilt feelings toward the Jewish people; this process has been described as secondary antisemitism (see ASW 2004 and previous reports).

A study published in April 2005, “Transformed Antisemitism?” by Andreas Zick and Beate Kupper of the University Bielefeld and the Bergische University, Wuppertal, found that traditional and transformed antisemitism (namely, antisemitism that has been adapted to prejudices against Jews and Judaism and accepted by the majority; antisemitic criticism of Israeli policies, for example) are widespread and have been incorporated by the political center in Germany. Ignorance and fear of the unknown is another important aspect of racist and antisemitic resentments. A survey at the University of Bielefeld revealing that 50 percent of interviewees compared Israel’s policy toward the Arabs with the Nazi treatment of Jews, showed a disturbing lack of knowledge about the Holocaust and about the situation in the Middle East.

Antisemitic crime rose by 25 percent in 2005. According to the Ministry of the Interior, there were 1,682 antisemitic offenses, or five per day.

 

Violent Incidents

Holocaust memorials and Jewish cemeteries continued to be the main target of antisemites of all political stripes. For example, on 14 May a swastika was painted on the newly unveiled (12 May) Holocaust memorial in Berlin. On 14 December memorial stones commemorating Jews who lived in Halle before being deported by the Nazis which were placed on the pavement at their last address, were desecrated. On 17 November a police spokesman in Berlin said yellow stars of David painted on Holocaust memorials had been removed. The police believed that they were part of a series of antisemitic graffiti that appeared in central Berlin during October.

Many Jewish and non-Jewish sites in Berlin and its surroundings were defaced with the Star of David between the dates 14/15 October and 10/11 November. These included the Soviet War Memorial in Treptow, the grave of Heinrich Heine and the grave of Bertolt Brecht. H. Flad, a specialist on extreme right-wing subcultures, suspects that neo-Nazi comradeships were responsible for the acts.

On 4 September police in Fulda reported that the Jewish cemetery in Ebersburg had been desecrated; 14 tombstones had been painted with swastikas and Nazi symbols. On 14 April, 13 tombstones were overturned in a Jewish cemetery in Babenhausen. On 8 January the police discovered Nazi slogans and swastikas painted on a Jewish memorial at the Frankische cemetery in Dortmund-Wickede.

 

Responses to antisemitism

The most immediate result of the fight against antisemitism was the adoption of legislation providing for means to outlaw antisemitic manifestations and declaring them anti-constitutional. Under a new law, demonstrations at memorial places of “outstanding, trans-regional significance” will be banned. Persons who violate it can face up to three years in prison or a fine. Consequently, municipal authorities refused permission for right-winger Norman Bordin and the neo-Nazi Actionsburo Munchen to rally on 8 May at the Marienplatz, Munich, on the 60th anniversary of Germany’s surrender. The proposed rally, from the spot on which the Nazis began persecution of the Jews, was branded a provocation.

With the increase in politically motivated crimes threatening to lead to a new divide between eastern and western Germany, the government has decided to step up implementation of an education program in schools to prevent young people from drifting into extremist movements. Eleven schools in the states of Brandenburg, Berlin and Saxony are participating in the new nationwide project “Youth Leaders against Antisemitism.” The project, which was launched on 8 March, is organized jointly by the Friedrich-Ebert Foundation, the American Jewish Committee, the Centre for Antisemitism Research and the Berlin State Institute for School and Media.

Two hundred and fifty German schools have participated in the Europe-wide initiative “Schule ohne Rassismus - Schule mit Courage,” which seeks to promote tolerance and fight racism xenophobia and antisemitism. The project, which is expanding steadily, is sponsored by ‘Entimon’, part of the federal initiative “Jugend für Toleranz und Demokratie - gegen Rechtsextremismus, Fremdenfeindlichkeit und Antisemitismus” (see ASW 2004). In an attempt to fight right-wing extremism among youth, the Agentur fuer soziale Perspektiven (Agency for Social Perspectives) published in March − on behalf of the SPD party executive − the brochure “Hide and Seek − Lifestyle, Symbols and Codes of neo-Nazi and Extreme Right Groups.” The text describes and explains symbols relating to National Socialist emblems and logos of extreme right organization and to those of Germanic paganism. It analyzes youth culture codes, dress codes and brand names and presents a list of right-wing extremist bands and publications (www.dasversteckspiel.de)

 

The Church

In November, the German Evangelical Church (EKD) issued a statement declaring that it would resist all extremism, including religious extremism. The announcement was published during the EKD Synod during which religious extremism was compared to political extremism, antisemitism and racism. Herman Grohe (EKD) stressed that the Church must speak out against radical Islamism when it encourages murder, violence and antisemitism.

On 25 February the chairman of the German Bishop’s Conference and the chairman of the Central Council of Jews in Germany announced that they intended to strengthen their cooperation and discuss social and religious matters. The reason for the meeting was alleged trivialization of the Holocaust by the archbishop of Cologne, who compared it to abortion.

 

Legal Action

There were several trials in 2005 of extreme right-wingers accused of antisemitic activities or Holocaust denial. Following are some examples: NPD strategist and former RAF (Red Army Faction) terrorist German lawyer Horst Mahler was sentenced to a nine-month prison term on 12 January for distributing pamphlets in 2002 describing hatred for Jews as an “unmistakable sign of solid mental health.” On 4 May Martin Wiese, 29, a member of the neo-Nazi Kameradschaft Sud (Comradeship South), was sentenced to 7 years in prison for plotting to blow up the Jewish community center in Munich on 9 November 2003 during its opening in the presence of German President Joachim Rau. On 2 March Ernst Zündel was charged in Mannhein with Holocaust denial and incitement of hatred. He was deported to Germany from Canada on 1 March after Federal Court Justice Pierre Blais declared him a threat to national security. In November Zündel’s trial was postponed on the grounds that a member of his defense had been convicted of racism.

German Holocaust denier Germar Rudolf (Germar Scheerer) was deported on 14 November from the US where he had fled to avoid a prison sentence in Germany. He was arrested the next day at Frankfurt airport. He may serve a 14 month prison sentence dating from 23 June 1995, in a Baden-Wurttemberg prison. Rudolf had denied the use of Zyklon B gas for mass murder by the Nazis during WWII.

 

Bans

In February, German Minister of Interior Otto Schily closed Yeni Akit GmbH, a publishing house headquartered in Moerfelden-Walldorf, Germany, which had been publishing the European edition of the Turkish Islamist publication Vakit since December 2001. Schily accused the paper of spreading “systematic incitement of hatred and violence” against Jews, the State of Israel, and the western social order in general.

On 28 December, the German authorities shut down the Multi-Kultur-Haus Islamic center in Neu-Ulm after it distributed material encouraging terrorism. The Multi-Kultur-Haus Association was banned on the same day for possession of material inciting Muslims to kill Christians and Jews. German Interior Minister Otto Schilly closed down Yeni Akit, headquarters of the publication of the European edition of the Turkish Islamist Vakit and demanded that steps be taken against the newspaper in Turkey due to the continuous publication of anti-Jewish and anti-Israel, as well as anti-western, articles (see Turkey)

On 10 April Brandenburg Minister of the Interior Jörg Schönbohm, CDU, banned the neo-Nazi Kameradschaft Hauptvolk and affiliate, Sturm 27, after a police raid on the homes of 40 members brought evidence of anti-constitutional activities. They were declared a threat to the constitutional order. Hauptvolk has called the Holocaust a lie and glorified Hitler. In March Berlin Minister of the Interior Ehrhart Koerting, SPD, banned the neo-Nazi Kameradschaft Tor and Berliner Alternative Sud-Ost, while on 14 July Brandenburg Minister Schönbohm outlawed the neo-Nazi Kameradschaft ANSDA-PO due to its adherence to Nazi ideology. The ANSDA-PO has close links to the DVU, the NSDAP and the NSDAP-AO.

 

Holocaust Attitudes

Speaking on 25 January in Berlin on the 60th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz, Chancellor Gerhard Schröder stressed the historical responsibility of his country for the Holocaust. He also referred to the problem of antisemitism which continued to exist in Germany and promised to take strong measures to fight it.

German Rail refused the request of the Fils et Filles des Déportés Juifs de France (FDJF) to place exhibits memorializing the deportation of 11,000 Jewish children in November 1943, at stations along the line from Drancy to Auschwitz. German Rail, successor to Deutsche Reichsbahn which organized the transports, explained its refusal on the grounds of a lack of personnel and financial resources. However, a permanent exhibition, “Deportation of the Jews on the German Railways 1941−1945,” which opened on 25 October in Berlin at the Museum of German Technology, demonstrates the role of the railways, and in particular, tells the story of the transport of 12 Jews deported from Berlin.