Adenauer to Attend Conference of Jewish Leaders from 15 Lands

Dr. Konrad Adenauer, Chancellor of West Germany, announced here today that, next month, he will attend a meeting in which representatives of Jewish organizations from 15 countries will participate. This meeting, showing the world the reconciliation between Jewry and West Germany, “should raise more interest than the recent anti-Semitic incidents.” Dr. Adenauer stressed.

The German Chancellor made the statement at a press conference here today, following the conclusion of meetings with Italian Government leaders whom he had come here to see.

The perpetrators of the Christmas Eve desecration of the synagogue at Cologne, which sparked the recent outbreak of anti-Semitic manifestations, should have been tried immediately in a police court, Dr. Adenauer declared, “thus avoiding further incidents.” He noted that the “youngsters” at Cologne were members of the right wing German Reicha Party, “with criminal records.”

Pointing out that there are only 20,000 to 25,000 Jews in West Germany, among a population of 53,000,000, the Chancellor said that “most of those who have committed anti-Semitic acts have probably never seen a single Jew.” He stressed the fact that there have been similar outbreaks in other countries.

“It is difficult to demonstrate that the plan was organized by Communists. But, undoubtedly, it is a plan organized by those who nurture resentment against Germany and who find it to their interest to raise hatred against Germany,” he stated.

(A man was arrested at Heilbronn, West Germany today for taking literally the advice voiced by Chancellor Konrad Adenauer that those who are caught smearing swastikas should be thrashed on the spot. Eugene Walter, of Heilbronn, caught a 10-year-old boy using snowballs to smear a swastika on a war memorial. He beat the boy. Today, the child’s father, Johan Hoffmann, had Walter arrested on a charge of maltreatment of a minor.)