West German authorities are being urged to ban the convention of the neo-Nazi National Democratic Party (NPD) scheduled to be held in Augsburg Nov. 22. Scores of trade unions, public officials and organizations of Holocaust survivors have joined the call, warning that the convention will arouse a wave of protests and anti-Nazi demonstrations in that south German city.
The attitude of tolerance of the neo-Nazi movement in West Germany was sharply attacked at a meeting in Augsburg of a national trade union representing workers in the printing industry. The umbrella organization of trade unions in the Federal Republic, DGB, and Augsburg’s Mayor Hans Breuer called on the public to participate in an Anti-Fascist Action Week being organized to coincide with the NPD convention. It will be highlighted by a mass demonstration against neo-Nazi activities.
SAYS ANTI-SEMITIC VIOLENCE IS INCREASING
Meanwhile, Interior Minister Gerhard Baum said in an interview in the mass circulation newspaper Bild that anti-Semitic violence is on the rise. He cited the recent desecration of the Jewish cemetery in Frankfurt, the city with Germany’s second largest Jewish community, where vandals splashed paint and scrawled anti-Semitic slogans on gravestones.
Baum observed that while the number of neo-Nazis is small, their readiness to commit violent acts has increased dramatically. He suggested as one remedy that the Hitler era should be discussed in German schools much more intensively and thoroughly than heretofore.
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