A Newsletter on American Jewish – German Relations

edubow@optonline.net
AMERICAN EDITION

April 26, 2010

Dear Friends:

The next edition of this august publication will not be coming to you until late
May. In the a few days I’ll be going to Washington for the AJC Annual Meeting ,
then coming back to New York for a couple of weeks before taking off again –
this time to Germany to accompany the AJC delegation for the annual exchange
program with the Konrad Adenauer Foundation. When I get back from all that I’ll
sit myself down and get out another newsletter.

It is said that German Chancellor, Angela Merkel, is the most powerful woman in
the world. Due to the Iceland volcano crisis she’ll have to move down to #2.
Mother Nature has again claimed the crown and the Chancellor had to bow to
her will and whim. Frau Merkel was on a somewhat extended visit in the U.S.
following the Nuclear Disarmament meeting. She started out for Berlin in order to
get there and then go on to Krakow for the funeral of the Polish President.
However, as she approached Europe Mother N. took over and the Chancellor’s
plane had to land in Portugal. After overnighting in Lisbon her plane got as far as
Rome. From there she was driven to the South Tyrol and then had to bus it to
Berlin. Being #2 isn’t so bad. However, after you’ve been #1 (or at least thought
you were #1) a reduction in status is probably not so easy to take. But I’m sure
she took it in good humor. She never made the funeral.

Needless to say, the volcano cloud hit Germany and the rest of Europe pretty
hard. The damage to industry is in the millions, if not billions, of Euros. However,
the planes are flying again so on to the news…

IN THIS EDITION

THE CHANGES – Germany matures. Good!

HOLOCAUST DENIER REDUX – Bishop Williamson gets hit with a fine. But
that’s not what should concern us.

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TOPOGRAPHY OF TERROR – A new monument opens.

ANTI-SEMITISM IN EUROPE (INCLUDING GERMANY) – An important report.

”SIMPLY OUT OF HER DEPTH” – Guess who.

A STEP IN THE RIGHT DIRECTION – The State of Lower Saxony appoints a

Minister of Turkish descent.

THE CHANGES

I look in the mirror every day when I shave. It’s hard to say when I started to look
older – but a peek today told me that a severe change has taken place since the
days of my youth. Those of us who follow goings-on in Germany, if you look
carefully, see the Germans undergoing the same experience – more so recently
than in past years. The way many Germans look at themselves these days is not
only changing - it has changed! I can remember in the 1980’s more than one
young German telling me, “I look at myself as a European, not so much a
German”. All those German flags that one saw in Berlin during the World Cup
soccer matches in 2006 were a distinct clue. Change was in the air. Today, to a
large degree, it has taken place.

Two astute NY Times reporters, Judy Dempsey and Stephen Castle recently
wrote an article, Germany's E.U. Policy Shift Reflects Generational Change,
which notes, “Germany no longer seems satisfied playing the role of the gentle
giant of Europe….But now that “the war generation is stepping down, and
Germany increasingly recognizes the new role it plays in Europe after
reunification,” …identity forged in the precursors to the European Union, under
Mrs. Merkel the tendency in Berlin has been more to try to dictate policy than
seek consensus. “

Yet Germany’s shift is equally important behind the scenes, in the corridors
where E.U. politics are played out in Brussels. Berlin has been increasingly
pressing the point that it carries too much of the E.U. burden, undermining many
of assumptions Europe operated under during the Cold War.

It was different under Helmut Kohl, the conservative chancellor who led Germany
through unification and was emotionally and politically committed to European
integration as well. He even agreed to give up the much-loved Deutsche mark to
create a common European currency, a powerful signal of his willingness to
subsume Germany within a stronger and more united Europe.

Germany’s changing role, analysts say, reflects the passing of the torch between
generations.

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The article mostly has to do with the way Germany and Chancellor Merkel have
been dealing with the Greek economic situation. However, what Dempsey and
Castle have to say delves more deeply into the German psyche and the way their
politics and policies are being addressed.

Some years ago I would have been concerned about any rise of nationalistic
feeling. Back then I would have worried about a lessening of responsibility for the
Holocaust. If that had happened it would have been dangerous and inimical to
Jewish interests and European democracy in general.

Well, if they have changed – so have I! I believe that Holocaust responsibility has
now become an integral part of German life and thinking. Some might not like it
but it’s there. In addition, most thinking people in the Federal Republic are
delighted that there is once again a burgeoning Jewish community. I think they
understand that the horrors that the Nazis brought, not only to the rest of the
world, but to them as well, should never be repeated. They’ve won more in the
time of peace than they ever won in two wars. The savoring of democracy is a
blessing for them and something they will not give up easily. They treasure the
political road they’re traveling and intend to stay on it.

Getting back to Jewish interests for the moment, I hope that this rise of
reasonable nationalism will make the leaders think again about how much power
they want to give over to the new EU foreign policy establishment. Frankly, I
don’t think it’s good for us and, likewise, it’s not good for them either.

If you want to read the NY Times piece, click here.

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/04/13/world/europe/13iht-merkel.html?
partner=TOPIXNEWS&ei=5099

HOLOCAUST DENIER REDUX

You may remember (at least I hope you do) the Holocaust denier, English
Catholic Bishop Richard Williamson who was charged with Holocaust Denial in
Germany where it is a crime. According to The Local, “The charges stem from
remarks Williamson, a member of the breakaway ultra-conservative Saint Pius X
Society, made during a television interview recorded in Germany in 2009 that
"200,000 to 300,000 Jews perished in Nazi concentration camps, but none of
them by gas chambers."

"It was all lies, lies, lies," he said in the interview, aired later on Swedish
television, and "not one Jew" was killed in the Nazi gas chambers.”

Williamson was due to appear recently in Regensburg for trial but claimed that
the Saint Pius X Society, his Brotherhood, ordered him not to go. Williamson

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previously “was fined €12,000 earlier this year by a Regensburg court but
elected to contest that fine and face a court trial. Loßmann (his attorney) said
that if Williamson were to lose the coming trial, he could face a harsher penalty,
including even a prison sentence, though he would most likely simply have to
pay the fine”.

Frankly, I don’t care if Williamson appears in court or not and I am reluctant to

even waste your time with this story. However, Williamson’s connection to the
Saint Pius X Society and the stance of that organization is a genuine concern.
According to Wikipedia, “Although the SSPX authorities have thus distinguished
Williamson's views from those of the Society, the Anti-Defamation League has
accused the Society of St. Pius X of being "mired in anti-Semitism" and journalist
John L. Allen, Jr. has said it would be misleading to consider Williamson an
isolated case: Father Florian Abrahamowicz, who after being the superior in Italy
has since been expelled from the Society, also said he was not sure the Nazis
had used gas chambers for anything other than disinfection, seemed to cast
doubt on the number of six million Jews killed, complained that the Jews had
exalted the Holocaust above other genocides (Armenian Genocide etc.), and
called the Jews first "the people of God" and then the "people of deicide", to be
converted to Jesus Christ at the end times.

…in January 2009 the Holy See remitted the excommunications of the Society's
bishops that it had declared at the time of the 1988 consecrations and expressed
the hope that all members of the society would follow this up by speedily
returning to full communion with the Church.

I understand that the Society (or Brotherhood) is small and very much on the
fringe of the Catholic Church with, as far as I can tell, no German connection.
And, indeed, I think the Regensburg prosecutors are to be congratulated for
pursuing Williamson. However, given the Church’s recent difficulties in relating to
the Jewish community, one would think the Pope would be more outspoken
about people like Williamson and the Society rather than welcoming them back
into the fold. Am I asking too much? You decide!

P.S. After finishing the above piece BBC reported that the Bishop had been
found guilty and was fined 10,000 Euros. “Bishop Williamson's case prompted a
rare comment on religious matters by the German chancellor. Angela Merkel
called on Pope Benedict to "clarify unambiguously that there can be no denial"
that the Nazis killed six million Jews. Williamson has said he wished to apologize
to anyone offended by his comments but has refused to retract his assertions,
saying only that he would re-examine the historical evidence.”

By the way, it is now reported that he’s appealing.

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TOPOGRAPHY OF TERROR

Some of you who have visited Berlin over they years might have come across an
outdoor ruin not far from the AJC Office which referred to itself as the
“Topography of Terror”. Posting at the site identified it as the former Nazi Secret
Police headquarters – the Gestapo torture chamber. . There wasn’t really
anything much to see except the remnants, a few pictures of the building that
once stood there and a notation that a museum would eventually be built
focusing on the horrible things that took place within its walls.

It has taken a long time but, yet again, another monument dedicated to the grisly
actions that the Nazis perpetrated on, in this case, its own citizens including, of
course, its Jewish population has been opened.

According to DW-World, The (Topography of Terror) building

(Niederkirchnerstrasse 8; 49-30-25-45-09-50; topographie.de), which cost just
over 21 million euros, about $28 million, includes exhibition spaces, a multimedia
research library, and seminar rooms. A main draw will be a permanent exhibition
that examines Nazism and its victims. And there will be physical reminders of the
city’s past: The Berlin Wall once ran right through the area, and a section of the
infamous barrier remains intact along the border of the new complex.

I always marvel at the persistence the German people have in parading in front
of the world the darkest segments of their own history. It is obviously part of their
road to redemption but one must credit them for not wanting to hide it away. To
sink $28 million dollars into an enterprise showing what sort of criminals some of
their fathers and grandfathers were is to me is simply amazing.

If there is a positive in this undertaking (not meant as a play on words) it is that

the director of ToT is Rabbi Andreas Nachama. During my stay in Berlin Andy (to
his American friends) was the President of the Berlin Jewish Community and a
great friend. Many in AJC know him as he has been a frequent visitor at the AJC
Annual Meetings. They could not have picked a better guy.

ANTI-SEMITISM IN EUROPE (INCLUDING GERMANY)

It will not come as a surprise to even the occasional reader of the news that anti-
Semitism is on the rise in Europe. Every year the Stephen Roth Institute of Tel
Aviv University issues a status report on the phenomena. Frankly, 2009 was a
terrible year.

Haaretz.com reported, “The worldwide increase in anti-Semitic attacks

following Israel's 2009 incursion into Gaza hit the U.K. and France the
hardest compared to all other European countries, according to Tel Aviv
University's watchdog on anti-Semitism.

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In 2009, the U.K. saw 374 manifestations of violence against Jews
compared to 112 in 2008, according to the Stephen Roth Institute for the
study of Contemporary anti-Semitism and Racism. France was a distant
second, with 195 violent attacks compared to 50.

The total number of anti-Semitic incidents - as they are defined by the

institute - was a record number of 1,129 in 2009, compared to 559 in 2008.
The institute recorded 566 incidents of vandalism targeting Jewish
property worldwide in 2009, constituting 49 percent of all incidents.

But what about Germany? The Federal Republic was pretty far down the
list. “The institute recorded 138 violent attacks against Jews in 2009 in
Canada, and 116 in the U.S, compared to 33 in Germany, 22 in Austria and
28 in Belgium.” However, that’s not the whole story. The segment on
Germany notes:

Germany
In a statement issued on December 17, 2009, Joerg Ziercke, president of the
German FederalCriminal Police Office (Bundeskriminalamt, BKA), reported that
almost three acts of racial violence were committed in Germany daily and some
three antisemitically motivated assaults took place per month. Anti-Semitic
manifestations increased during Operation Cast Lead, when activists from the
extreme right, the extreme left and Islamic fundamentalists took part in many
virulently anti-Israel demonstrations. On January 10, for example, a group calling
itself “Mainz Initiative for Peace in Gaza” organized a rally in the city which
attracted some 5,000 people. Many protesters were carrying banners with anti-
Semitic catchphrases such as “Should Gaza become Auschwitz?”

or “Israel drinks the blood of our children.” A small cluster of people waving an
Israeli flag was attacked by an angry group who shouted insults such as Ihr
Judenschweine (You Jewish pigs).Instead of guarding the few Israel supporters;
the police claimed they had provoked the violence. Final numbers issued by the
Ministry of Interior may show a slight increase in the overall number of anti-
Semitic manifestations in 2009 but a significant decrease in violent acts against
Jews. This does not necessarily include the almost weekly desecrations of
Jewish cemeteries which, for the most part, are not reported as anti-Semitic
crimes but as “vandalism.” The findings of the Stephen Roth Institute, as
reflected in its database, also show a clear trend of a decline in violent acts.
Nevertheless, many Jews in Germany report an increased sense of insecurity,
which may be explained in part by the fact that radical anti-Zionism has infiltrated
the mainstream discourse, thus becoming gesellschaftsfaehig − socially
acceptable. On August 5, in an effort to curb this trend, federal minister of the
interior Wolfgang Schaeuble announced the formation of an anti-Semitism panel,
which is to report to the government on a regular basis. The panel will also make
recommendations for combating anti-Semitism. It is composed of experts from a
variety of backgrounds – both Jewish and non-Jewish.

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In thinking about the Roth Institute report and where Germany comes out (far
from the top) on the list, I am reminded of what some great philosopher once
said, “It’s better than a poke in the eye with a sharp stick”. However, I do know
that the government is seriously approaching the problem and that is some
solace. I also find solace in the fact that I mostly visit Germany and not the U.K.

”SIMPLY OUT OF HER DEPTH”

I’m not the only one!

Spiegel-Online reports, “Members of the European Parliament are becoming

increasing critical of Catherine Ashton, the EU's high representative for foreign
affairs. Ashton is incapable of setting up the EU's new diplomatic service, they
argue.

Four and a half months after Catherine Ashton took office as the European
Union's high representative for foreign affairs, doubts are increasing about her
suitability for the post.

Ashton has no ideas and no plan, criticizes Inge Grässle, a member of the
European Parliament for Germany's center-right Christian Democratic Union
(CDU). Ashton is "simply out of her depth" when it comes to setting up the EU's
new diplomatic service, the European External Action Service (EEAS), Grässle
told SPIEGEL. Things are "totally on the wrong track," she added.

Different EU institutions are engaged in a power struggle over what form the
EEAS should take.

Their complaints are not my complaints. Mine have to do with her apparent
negative view of Israel. However, as you can see – we’re all complaining.

A STEP IN THE RIGHT DIRECTION

The State of Lower Saxony has taken a genuine step in the right direction.
Spiegel On-Line reported, “Germany has its first government minister of Turkish
origin -- the governor of the northern state of Lower Saxony on Monday
appointed Aygül Özkan, the Hamburg-born daughter of Turkish immigrants, as
minister of social affairs in a coup for Chancellor Angela Merkel's conservatives.

The governor of the northern German state of Lower Saxony has appointed
Germany's first ever Muslim minister of Turkish origin at the government level. In
a reshuffle announced on Monday by Governor Christian Wulff, a member of
Chancellor Angela Merkel's conservative Christian Democratic Union (CDU)
party, 38-year-old Aygül Özkan became the region's new minister for social
affairs.

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"I am aware that I am a role model," said Özkan, who was born in Hamburg in
1971. Her parents moved to Germany from Turkey in the 1960s like thousands
of other Turks invited by the German government as " guest workers" to help
make up for a shortage of labor following World War II.

Özkan's political career has so far been meteoric. The trained lawyer only joined
the CDU six years ago. She became a member of the city parliament of the
northern city-state of Hamburg two years ago and joined the party's regional
executive board soon after that. Before her ministerial appointment, she was
economic policy spokeswoman for the regional parliamentary group in Hamburg.

Of course, the appointing of someone from a Turkish-Muslim background to be a

Minister is groundbreaking. Perhaps equally amazing is how fast Minister Özkan
moved up. However, being that Germany has as its Chancellor an equally fast,
upwardly moving woman, who also came out of an unusual background (East
Germany), maybe it’s becoming a trend.

Read about it: Click here.

http://www.spiegel.de/international/germany/0,1518,690036,00.html

See you again in late May.

DuBow Digest is written and published by Eugene DuBow who can be

contacted at edubow@optonline.net Both the American and Germany
editions are also posted on line at www.dubowdigest.typepad.com.

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