Concern over the re-emergence of a neo-Nazi party in West Germany was expressed today in Parliament by Foreign Minister Abba Eban, who said that the Jewish people was particularly sensitive to any sign reminding it about the terrible Nazi past.
It was fitting, therefore, he added, that the Knesset should be the first Parliament of the world to express concern about the electoral successes of the National Democratic Party in two West German states this month.
The Foreign Minister added a warning against the danger of exaggerating what had happened in Hesse and Bavaria where the NDP which has officially been described as neo-Nazi by the West German Foreign Ministry, won seats for the first time. He said that even in those two states, more than 90 percent of the population still supported West Germany’s two major parties, the Christian Democratic Union and the Social Democrats, which “are undoubtedly democratic.”
Mr. Eban declared that anyone who said that Germany was on the way back to Nazism was doing “this small party” a favor it did not deserve. He stressed that the development was the emergence of neo-Nazis and not an increase in their strength. He declared that the NDP had provided a new rallying point for Germany’s neo-Nazis but that they had always existed in an undercover motion.
The Foreign Minister made his remarks in reply to a motion for Knesset debate on the issue offered by Mrs. E. Talmi of Mapam. Mrs. Talmi’s motion was transmitted to the Foreign Affairs and Security Committee for further study.
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