The Ministry of the Interior reported today that there had been a steady decline in the number of anti-Semitic incidents in West Germany from a peak of 1,206 cases in 1960 to 171 in 1964.
A Ministry spokesman presented the data in a general survey of radical right and anti-Semitic activities in the federal republic. Such incidents, he said, included anti-Semitic insults, swastika smearings and similar activities. He said 74 persons were arrested in 1964 for such activities.
He said that foreign and international fascist groups in the United States, Britain, Belgium and Switzerland were trying to influence extreme right-wing groups in West Germany. He reported that 66 fascist and anti-Semitic papers were sent into West Germany from abroad compared with 45 such periodicals printed in West Germany. In addition, he reported 78 fascist and anti-Semitic leaflets were sent into West Germany. He emphasized that none of the rightwing groups had a daily newspaper.
At the end of 1963 there were in West Germany 123 rightwing radical organizations, youth groups and political parties, with a total membership of 24,600, the report of the Ministry stated. At the end of 1964, there were 119 such groups with a membership of 22,500. In 1950, membership in such groups totalled 78,000. In recent years, the report said, 16 new groups were formed and 20 dissolved themselves. It added that currently there were eight such groups with more than 500 members each and Ill small groups with an average membership of 42 each.
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The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.