(JTA) — A German official has resigned from the country’s top bank board over remarks about Jews and Muslims widely condemned as racist.
Thilo Sarrazin asked German President Christian Wulff on Sept. 10 to allow him to resign, according to reports.
The German central bank board already had asked Wulff to dismiss Sarrazin from his position. Sarrazin had threatened to fight the decision.
In his book "Germany Abolishes Itself," published Aug. 30, and in public comments surrounding its release, Sarrazin has blamed Muslim immigrants for what he considers a decline in German culture. He also has said that Jews and others possess superior genes.
Prominent Jews and Muslims have blasted Sarrazin.
His political party, the left-of-center Social Democratic Party, has begun proceedings to expel him, the German news agency Deutche Welle reported.
The far-right extremist National Democratic Party of Germany has publicly supported Sarrazin’s views on Muslims, though not on Jews.
