The year 1965 saw a “slight increase” in the right-wing, radical forces in West Germany, and a considerable rise in the circulation of right-wing newspapers, some of them outright anti-Semitic and anti-Israeli, Minister of the Interior Paul Lueker reported here today. The report compares figures for 1965 and 1964. It shows that, as far as actual Nazi and anti-Semitic incidents were concerned, these had risen vastly in 1965, totaling 521 for the year, compared with 171 in 1964.
The Minister of the Interior stated that, during the parliamentary elections last October the national Democratic Party obtained 64,000 votes out of a total of 32,000,000 ballots cast, while another right-wing group got a total vote of 52,000. “Thus,” he stated, “all the right-wing groups together got only 2.2 percent of the total vote. There were 14 right-wing groups, he said, with a total membership of 9,700 members by the end of 1964. The number of groups, he reported, had dropped to 11 in 1965, through mergers and reorganizations, but the number of members had gone up to 16,700.
Right-wing youth groups, his figures showed, had diminished in strength from 700 members in 17 organizations by the end of 1964 to 500 members in 10 organizations by 1965. However, he stated, 50 other youth groups not organized as political parties had 11,964 members in 1964 against 11,600 in 1965. Lumping together various right-wing groups, youth organizations and groups providing publishing services, Mr. Lueker gave a figure of 22,500 at the end of 1964 as against 28,600 in 1965.
61 FOREIGN AND 40 GERMAN ANTI-SEMITIC PUBLICATIONS CIRCULATED
In the publications field, 45 right-wing organs had a total circulation of 183,000 in 1964, going up to a circulation of 227,000 in 1965. “The main cause for this increase,” he said, “was the rise in the circulation of the Deutsche National-und-Soldatenzeitung and the Deutsche Nachrichten Zeitung. The latter is the organ of the National Democratic Party. In addition, 61 foreign and 40 German anti-Semitic periodicals were in circulation in West Germany in 1965.
Of the 521 Nazi and anti-Semitic incidents in 1965, the Minister of the Interior said, 107 involved threats and insults, 54 cases were concerned with the spreading of anti-Semi- tic posters and leaflets, 19 incidents involved damage to Jewish cemeteries. A total of 201 offenders were apprehended, including 58 children.
Commenting on the report, Mr. Lueker said: “The increases were not serious. In many cases, punishment was avoided by the right-wing radicals posing as persons loyal to the Constitution. But while the situation was not serious, the position of the right-wing radicals has to be watched carefully. The most sinister event was the increase in the circulation of the Deutsche National-und-Soldatenzeitung, which has succeeded in attracting national interest and constantly propagandizes against victims of the war and against Israel.”
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