The American Jewish Congress said today that the election success of the neo-Nazi National Democratic Party in Baden-Wurttemburg “cannot be dismissed as routine or as reflecting merely the normal percentage of extremist sentiment that may be found in any electorate.” Dr. Joachim Prinz, immediate past president of the Congress, said that the election results showed “a dangerous turn to the right among substantial segments of West German public opinion.”
Dr. Prinz noted that previous successes by the NPD in other German states had “occurred in regions long known to be vulnerable to rightist sentiments.” But Sunday’s victory, he said, “must be considered a clear defeat of those who had hoped that democracy at long last was taking root and becoming a viable way of life for the German people. If this could have happened in reputedly liberal Baden-Wurttemburg, then one can only surmise with apprehension the state of German opinion in other parts of the country.”
The American Jewish Congress leader criticized the “failure” of West Germany’s major educational and political institutions to inculcate democratic values in the German people.
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.
