Evangelical Bishop Otto Dibelius, opening the third congress of the Protestant Church of Germany, today condemned the mounting wave of anti-Jewish “incidents,” particularly the desecration of Jewish holy places.
Bishop Dibelius added that the Protestant Church would protect Jewish holy places through its local bodies. The conference is taking place in the Soviet zone of Berlin and the opening session was attended by representatives of the four occupation powers.
Meanwhile, a number of prominent professors at Heidelberg University have called upon the education ministries of the German states to take immediate steps in all schools and universities to combat anti-Semitism. They asserted that the official reports that many of the desecrations of Jewish cemeteries and synagogues were the work of children proves that they are being miseducated.
A memorial plate to the victims of Nazism was dedicated in the Jewish cemetery at Weissensee, in the Soviet sector of Berlin, this week-end. Present at the ceremeny, beside representatives of the Jewish community, were Johann Dieckhoff, president of the Parliament of the East German Republic, and a number of Protestant clergymen.
JTA has documented Jewish history in real-time for over a century. Keep our journalism strong by joining us in supporting independent, award-winning reporting.
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.
