Dr. Kurt Kiesinger, West Germany’s new Chancellor, told the Jewish Telegraphic Agency correspondent here that he had never in his life taken an anti-Jewish attitude and had never done anything against Jews. Concerning his membership in the Nazi Party, he insisted it was purely nominal, and added: “I never sympathized with the Nazis and I believed that I would be able to out-maneuver them.”
The Chancellor disclosed that he had wanted to emigrate from Germany when the Nazis took power in 1933, but did not have the money to do so. He said he entered the party in 1933, but had nothing to do with it after 1934.
He said that he had given much thought to the offer to become Chancellor because of his past connection with the Nazi Party. He stressed that he himself had proposed Dr. Eugen Gerstenmair, the president of the Bundestag, West Germany’s lower house of Parliament, for the post of Chancellor, but that his Christian Democratic Union Party had decided differently.
Chancellor Kiesinger agreed that it was only “natural” for people outside of Germany to be disturbed about the rise of the extremist National Democratic Party. However, he insisted there was no comparison between conditions in Germany now and those in 1933. He contended that the two major parties in West Germany — the CDU and the Social Democrats now joined in a coalition which he heads as Chancellor — both favored direct elections to replace the present proportional election system under which the NDP won seats for the first time in November in the provincial parliaments of Hesse and Bavaria.
He said that the two major parties favored such change not solely because of the NDP — “such importance is not attached to the NDP” — but because an incidental benefit of such a revised electoral system would be to prevent the NDP from reaching the Federal Parliament. He added that he was studying “this complex problem.”
MAKES CLEAR HIS POLICY ON ISRAEL; SAYS ARABS WOULD NOT INFLUENCE HIM
Dr. Kiesinger was asked about his attitude toward statements by Arab spokesmen that they would attach conditions toward efforts by West Germany to reestablish normal diplomatic relations with the Arab states. Most of the Arab countries severed or suspended ties with West Germany after Bonn exchanged ambassadors with Israel. One such condition indicated by the Arabs was a change in West Germany’s attitude toward Israel.
“I would never let myself be influenced in this question by outside parties,” the Chancellor promptly replied. “We have a very special responsibility toward Israel. This entails a specially favorable attitude toward Israel, of course.” He drew attention to the fact that he said this previously on a visit to India.
Asked whether he intended to maintain that position in the future, Dr. Kiesinger said: “I will do everything so that our relations with Israel, which we have regularized formally, are further developed, strengthened and deepened.” He added, “I am not letting myself into a position of ‘either or’ on this question.”
Dr. Kiesinger was then referred to reports that, at the time diplomatic relations with Israel were under discussion in Bonn, he had spoken against that step. He shook his head emphatically in denial. He said someone had written something to that effect but that actually the opposite had been true. He explained that what he had done was to criticize the “clumsy way” of West German diplomacy in first telling the Arabs that diplomatic relations with Israel would not be established, and then doing just that. He added he had always favored diplomatic relations with Israel.
Declaring that he had not studied the question of Israel’s dissatisfaction over its current pact with the European Common Market, of which West Germany is a member, he said he was aware that the predecessor Government of Ludwig Erhard had taken a positive attitude toward Israel’s association with Euromart, and that he would make an effort to find a solution in which Israel’s interests would be safeguarded.
Israel’s current agreement with Euromart ends next June 30, and Israel has applied for either a much wider agreement or for an associated status. Dr. Kiesinger said he planned to discuss the problem soon with Israeli Ambassador Asher Ben-Nathan. He stressed that it was unnecessary to remember that he was not in a position to decide by himself on Common Market issues.
The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
