A member of Germany’s Left Party said Germany needs a “marathon” effort to combat right-wing extremism, racism and anti-Semitism.
Petra Pau, who also is vice president of the German Parliament, made the remarks during a meeting with an American Jewish Committee delegation in Berlin. Lawrence Ramer, chairman of the AJCommittee’s Berlin Ramer Center for German-Jewish Relations, said he was concerned about recent reports from Germany about xenophobic attacks.
“We very much hope that Germany will broaden its long-term fight against this problem,” Ramer said.
Pau proposed creating a centralized office to deal with challenges to democracy in Germany.
The AJCommittee and the Friedrich-Ebert Foundation, which is connected to the German government coalition partner, the Social Democratic Party, will hold a conference Thursday on German-Israel relations.
