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Nazism Still Strong in West Germany, ADL Mission Says

April 13, 1954
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Anti-Semitism still exists in West Germany and is still strong there, a three-man delegation of the Anti-Defamation League of B’nai B’rith found after a month’s study tour of the country. The three, who issued their findings in the form of a report yesterday, are: Benjamin R. Epstein, national director; Jacob Alson, treasurer; and Nathan C. Belth, public relations director.

The ADL mission, which visited Germany at the invitation of the Bonn Government, declared that most Germans appeared embarrassed by discussion of Nazi persecutions and sought to avoid such discussions and to block out of their minds thoughts of the persecutions. It noted that in the generation which had lived through Hitler, anti-Semitism persisted without lessening and that some progress in eliminating it had been made among the German youth who had not known Hitler.

The report also said that the Germans do not reject Nazism with the same ferver they reject Communism. But, the ADL mission continued, at the present time neo-Nazism and Nazism appear at a “very low ebb” as organized political movements.

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