Human Rights Commission Discuss Ways to Curb Nazism; Zionism and Nazism Linked

Concern over alleged manifestations of neo-Nazism in West Germany was expressed by Communist bloc spokesmen in the course of debate in the Human Rights Commission yesterday on measures to be taken against Nazism, racial intolerance and the punishment of war criminals. Two Arab delegates contended that there was a link between the Nazi ideology and Zionism. Nikolai Tarassov, of the Soviet Union, criticized the West German Republic for postponing the statute of limitations on war crimes prosecution for ten years but limiting the definition of war crimes to those committed with malice which, he said, was difficult to prove after 20 years. The Polish representative, Edward Sabik, said he was alarmed by the substantial number of votes polled in West Germany’s national elections last September by the reputedly neo-Nazi National Democratic Party (NPD). He charged that the NPD program was becoming the program of all rightist parties in Germany.

Rabbi Isaac Lewin, representing the Agudas Israel World Organization which has non-governmental status on the Human Rights Commission, noted that the NPD polled 1,422,106 votes, 4.3 percent of the total compared to the two percent it gained in the 1965 elections. He said that had the results been slightly different, the neo-Nazis might have formed part of the Government. Rabbi Lewin, who claimed that his organization represents more than half of the religious Jews in the world, also criticized the publication of textbooks in West Germany allegedly glorifying Nazism. The Human Rights Commission is considering a draft resolution on Nazism and racial intolerance sponsored by Poland and the Ukraine. Hussein Khallaf, representing Egypt, said ideologies “akin to Nazism” still abound. He said all “twisted” ideologies based on racial discrimination and exclusiveness. such as apartheid and Zionism, deserve universal condemnations. Yaha Mahmassani, of Lebanon said that the world today seemed to condone and tolerate one form of Nazism which, perpetrated by people who had once been victims of Nazism, had emerged on the same racial Nazi foundations and had the same pattern of military arrogance and conquest. His reference was obviously to Israel.