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Anti-semitism in Germany Must Be “watched, Fought,” Berun Mayor Says

February 11, 1959
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There are anti-Semitic tendencies in West Germany at present. West Benin’s Mayor Willi Brandt declared today, and these must be “watched and fought.” However, he added, “there is no danger as to the basic attitude of the German people and its government.”

At a general press conference here. Mayor Brandt was asked to comment on the recent spate of anti-Semitic incidents in Germany and on charges that a number of the German states are procrastinating in regard to restitution and indemnification of individual victims of the Nazis. To this question. Mayor Brandt replied:

“I would not state the truth if I said there arc not still certain anti-Jewish elements in Germany and. beyond that, certain elements left from the Nazi period. It would be strange if in a country like Germany where a large percentage of the population for a certain time favored Hitler, it would be strange if nothing was left of that attitude. It would not be possible, it would not be natural.

“I must confess, being a man who participated in anti-Hitler activities, that not all of Germany was one large resistance camp against Hitler. But the groups are much smaller and the entire German press and almost the entire German people react against them. This is true of the general public.the general citizen, the Federal government and the governments of the states.”

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