Rapid progress is expected in East Germany’s drive to establish diplomatic relations with Israel, following the new government’s unprecedented statement of apology last week for crimes committed against the Jewish people during World War II.
A senior government official predicted last weekend that a third round of talks between delegations of the two countries would be agreed to this month. The first two rounds, held in Copenhagen during the weeks of Jan. 29 and March 5, explored both diplomatic ties and the payment of reparations.
Each figured prominently in the government’s historic statement on the Holocaust and Israel, read April 12 at the inaugural session of the Volkskammer, East Germany’s first freely elected parliament.
The solemn declaration of East German culpability for Nazi atrocities as an heir to the Third Reich was greeted by a standing ovation.
Although East Germany first formally acknowledged its share of guilt in a statement released here on Feb. 8, the document read in the parliament last week was unique in that it begged forgiveness.
“We feel sad and ashamed. We ask the Jews of the world to forgive us,” the statement said.
It also declared, “We will strive for the establishment of diplomatic relations and for wide-ranging contacts with the State of Israel.”
On the issue of reparations, the statement said, “We do declare our willingness to contribute as much a possible to the healing of mental and physical sufferings of survivors and to provide just compensation for material losses.”
REPARATIONS MAY AWAIT UNIFICATION
But sources here admit that any financial compensation to Nazi persecutees is likely to be provided by the government that emerges from unification of the two German states.
East and West Germany are planning to establish a monetary union starting in July. That means the Bonn government or the Frankfurt-based Bundesbank will be responsible for monetary matters and budgeting for the two Germanys.
Meanwhile, East Germany’s tiny Jewish community is becoming more assertive and has indulged in some “mea culpas” of its own.
An editorial in Nachrichtenblatt, the official community newspaper, acknowledged that for 40 years the Jewish community supported the government’s line that East Germany was an “antifascist” state that rooted out Nazism and was therefore not responsible for its depredations.
That has now been exposed as an official lie, the editorial said.
Nachrichtenblatt also demanded changes in education policy to allow for research and study of the Holocaust.
The weekly reported that, despite official counterpropaganda, anti-Semitism and racial hatred have quietly increased in East Germany as it moves toward free expression and democracy.
On the other hand, the statement read in the Volkskammer last week acknowledged East Germany’s obligation “to foster and protect, in a special way, Jewish religion, culture and tradition in Germany” and to “preserve Jewish cemeteries, synagogues and memorial places.”
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.
