Australia Jews Tell Germany It Must Rid Itself of Racism

Some 1,000 Jews demonstrated here Sunday in front of the German Consulate, calling on the German government to do all in its power to suppress racist violence.

Many of those bidding Bonn “employ all possible means to curtail the current surge of racist violence” wore yellow stickers with the slogan “Never again” and held banners saying “Stop racism in Germany.”

The demonstration here coincided with massive anti-racist gatherings in Germany itself.

At the Sydney rally, Sol Schonberger, representing the Australian Association of Jewish Holocaust Survivors, said they were showing their “solidarity with the German people who are protesting against the rise of Nazism in Europe and Germany.”

He added, “The conditions in Europe now are the same as the late ’20s and early ’30s, and certain parties are trying to blame minority groups.”

Robert Klarnet, public affairs director of the New South Wales Jewish Board of Deputies, told the Jewish Telegraphic Agency that `feelings of concern and outrage at the almost daily reports of Nazi violence in Germany and throughout Europe inspired the demonstration, which was organized on short notice and with little prior publicity.”

The community “was overwhelmed at the large number of young people who attended the rally, as they must carry the message `Never again,'” Klarnet added.

Rolf Meyer-Olden, the acting consul general for Germany, met a small delegation of demonstrators and accepted their letter of protest at the racist violence.

Meyer-Olden told the demonstrators he shared their outrage and that “in recent weeks, a million people in Germany took to the streets and demonstrated for the same cause, against xenophobia, racism and extremism.”