Germany has “no right to full equality” with the civilized nations of the world until the leaders of West Germany convince their people to face up to the Hitlerian outrages for which they are responsible, Dr. Norman Salit, president of the Synagogue Council of America, told a press conference today.
Dr. Salit, returning from a month-long visit to Germany where he was the first Jewish guest of a German Government since the advent of Hitler, reported that as a result of conferences with Chancellor Konrad Adenauer and President Theodor Heuss of West Germany he was convinced that they recognized Germany’s guilt for Hitler’s crimes. The German people, however, the rabbinical leader declared, want to forget Germany’s moral responsibility.
There is no overt anti-Semitism in Germany today, Dr. Salit reported, adding that there were practically no anti-Semitism incidents in Germany in the past year. But, he pointed out, German employers will not hire Jews. One of the major factors for the absence of open anti-Semitism, he asserted, is the fact that there are few Jews left in Germany–some 22,000.
He reported that Jewish communities appealed to him for such things as a travelling library, prayer shawls, prayer books and other religious articles.
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