Members of the Bundestag, West Germany’s parliament, began debate Monday on a proposal by the Jewish community to include a strong statement about the Nazi era in the preamble to the treaty that will formally establish a unified Germany on Oct. 3.
The Jewish community appealed last week to the various political parties to consider its proposal after the government circulated a draft of the treaty described by a community leader as unsatisfactory.
The government draft, released by Interior Minister Wolfgang Schauble, says that the unified German state would be conscious of the continuity of German history and the resulting special responsibility for human rights and peace.
It does not specifically mention the Nazi era.
The Jewish community expressed displeasure over the text, which, said community leader Heinz Galinski, “fails to address the crux of the matter.”
The community proposed addition of a direct reference to the period between 1933 and 1944 in which Hitler ruled, and the “uniqueness of the terror acts perpetuated” by the Nazi regime.
A spokesman for the opposition Social Democratic Party predicted Monday that a compromise would be found on the question of the treaty’s preamble. He also said that the majority in his party’s parliamentary faction would want to adopt a text consistent with the Jewish community’s proposal.
The maverick Greens, a left-wing, opposition faction, also appear likely to support the Jewish community’s demand.
But Chancellor Helmut Kohl’s ruling Christian Democrats failed to say whether they would agree to the Jewish community’s request.
But an Interior Ministry spokesman said Monday that the Schauble draft was not final and that deliberations were continuing. He said Jewish officials have been consulted all along and will be further asked to offer their opinions.
The Oct. 3 unification date was determined last week, when members of the East German government finally resolved their differences and voted in favor of it.
The event had been originally scheduled for December, when pan-German elections are set to take place, but economic woes and increasing lawlessness in East Germany created pressure to accelerate reunification.
The unity treaty between the two German states, which requires ratification by a two-thirds majority in both parliaments, is now being studied by the major political groups in both parliaments.
The win ratification in both houses of the West German parliament, the government needs the support of the Social Democrats, the main opposition party.
The chief outstanding problem is how to deal with abortion. The West German coalition government has had to bend to the representatives of the Christian Social Union, the Bavarian counterpart of Kohl’s governing Christian Democratic Union, which is largely Catholic and anti-abortion.
The Social Democrats, seeking a more liberal abortion law, have threatened to block ratification of the treaty.
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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.
