The Daily Telegraph reported today from Bonn that there were 30,000 Jews currently living in West Germany few of whom “feel secure yet” and many of whom maintain dual nationality.
About 8,000 of them have no contact with the Jewish community and some even pretending to be Gentile Germans, the report said. Relations with the Germans are still inhibited by memories of the Nazi past and most of the Germans, burdened with guilt feelings, tend to overcompensate in their behavior toward Jews.
Other Germans, the report continued, unthinkingly disclose their latent anti-Semitism though less openly than the Austrians. “All in all, 25 years after Crystal Night, when the Nazis roamed through German and Austrian cities, setting synagogues afire and beating and killing Jews, the problems of Jews in Germany remain formidable,” the report stated.
At national levels, however, relations have developed surprisingly well, the report stressed. The West Germans are fulfilling their restitution obligations, West Germany has become Israel’s third largest trading partner and the West German army is equipped with Israeli guns and German soldiers wear Israeli-made shirts and sports trousers. They also use Israel-made mortar ammunition of which hundreds of thousands of rounds are purchased.
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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.
