More than 6,000,000 members of the West German Trade Unions Federation were urged by federation officers today to sign petitions asking the West German Government to extend diplomatic recognition to Israel.
A similar project developed in Cologne, where a city official distributed to 1,000 persons attending a meeting there of the Christian-Jewish Society petitions calling for such recognition.
Dr. Kurt Hackenberg, the official, invited those present to sign such petitions to the West German Government and then distributed copies of the petitions and asked recipient to get signatures from their friends and neighbors. He was warmly applauded for his appeal for such signatures.
Two other speakers also stressed the theme. Erik Blumenfeld, a member of Parliament of Chancellor Ludwig Erhard’s Christian Democratic Union, said that creation of diplomatic ties with Israel was one of the “grave and urgent” steps to be performed by the Government. Bernhard Tacke, vice-chairman of the Labor Committee, asserted relations with Israel should be a top priority program of West German policy.
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