Chancellor Konrad Adenauer, in a letter answering a statement by the American Jewish Committee that anti-Semitism is on the rise in Germany, said that this development was regrettable but does not “represent the attitude of the German people as a whole.” The letter, made public today, reads:
“The anti-Semitic acts which have so regrettably taken place in Germany in the course of the last weeks, in no wise represent the attitude of the German people as a whole–as is sometimes implied by newspapers abroad. As has been made evident again and again, these single occurrences are always rejected and condemned by the overwhelming majority of the German people.
“Recently, the Federal Government succeeded in establishing the fact that anti-Semitic acts are inspired also by Communist agents. It is suspected that a deliberate campaign from the Communist side is involved in the situation, the purpose of which is to discredit the Federal Republic abroad.” The West German Chancellor assured the American Jewish Committee that the Federal Government will proceed with all severity and every “means at its disposal against anti-Semitic occurrences in the Federal Republic.”
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