Daniel Cohn-Bendit, veteran social provocateur and firebrand in European politics, is now calling on the West German government to begin allowing Soviet Jews to immigrate here.
Cohn-Bendit, known as “Danny the Red” since his prominent left-wing involvement in French university demonstrations in 1968, is now a member of the Frankfurt City Council. In that capacity, he has called on Bonn to grant Soviet Jews the same benefits accorded ethnic Germans who come here from the Soviet Union and elsewhere in Eastern Europe.
Cohn-Bendit, a French-born German Jew, was expelled from France in 1968 for leading a student revolt. That and his outstanding red hair earned him the “Danny the Red” sobriquet.
Since that time, he has changed political colors and is now a member of the ecologically oriented Green Party.
While describing himself as fiercely anti-Zionist, he is deeply concerned that Soviet Jews face mounting anti-Semitism in their homeland, and insists that Bonn offer them a refuge.
Germany now has the opportunity to prove that its much-touted “special responsibility” toward the Jews is not just lip service, he said.
In recent years, about 5,000 Soviet Jews have settled in West Germany, after receiving official recognition as “ethnic Germans.” Some individuals obtained it with forged documents.
Persons recognized as “ethnic Germans” qualify for generous absorption benefits, including cheap housing, automatic citizenship and free language courses.
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.
