East Germany is for the first time negotiating the payment of reparations to Jewish victims of Nazism and intends to make 100 million marks (some $58 million) available for that purpose, according to Heinz Galinski, chairman of the Central Council of Jews in West Germany.
Galinski said this was confirmed to him Monday during a 90-minute meeting with East German leader Erich Honecker. It was the first such encounter between the East German Communist boss and the leader of West Germany’s Jewish community.
Galinski said the negotiations are apparently taking place in the United States between the Conference on Jewish Material Claims Against Germany and a delegation headed by East Germany’s ambassador to Washington. The Claims Conference negotiated a reparations pact with West Germany more than 30 years ago.
Galinski said that Honecker also promised to look into a more even-handed treatment of Israel by the government-controlled East German news media.
Biased reporting about Israel, especially since the Palestinian unrest in the Israeli-administered territories began six months ago, is held largely responsible for recent anti-Semitic incidents in East Germany.
Galinski said Honecker told him East Germany was ready to study new ways to tackle the problem of anti-Semitism through the education system.
Honecker also promised to consider a suggestion by Galinski to convene the Volkskammer, the East German parliament, in special session to mark the 50th anniversary of the notorious Kristallnacht next Nov. 30.
Kristallnacht, the night of broken glass, was the first organized pogrom in Nazi Germany and marked the start of the systematic persecution of German Jews.
The Bundestag, the West German parliament, also has been asked to observe the anniversary and is considering the matter.
Galinski said Honecker accepted his suggestion to send East German Jewish students to the faculty for Jewish studies at Heidelberg University in West Germany.
Honecker also promised that a special effort will be made to better preserve the Jewish cemetery in Weissensee, reputedly the largest in Europe. It has 115,000 gravestones.
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