Social Scientists, Jewish Leaders Concerned over Lack of Effective Measures to Deal with Neo-nazism

Social scientists and Jewish community leaders have expressed concern over the lack of effective measures by West German authorities to deal with the resurgence of neo-Nazi activities, particularly among the youth. While the authorities are aware of the

phenomenon, they seem to be blind to its political implications, according to speakers at a seminar on the subject organized by the ruling Social Democratic Party (SPD).

One example noted was the failure to register the far rightwing National Democratic Party (NPD) as a neo-Nazi organization. Heinz Galinski, chairman of the West Berlin Jewish community took the legislators to task for failing to correct the present situation whereby only the relatives of death camp victims can sue neo-Nazis who spread propaganda that the Holocaust never occurred. “This cannot be tolerated. We have to see to it that the State prosecution initiates such cases,” Galinski said.

Justice Minister Juergen Schmude agreed that existing laws must be tightened to curb neo-Nazi propaganda or new laws introduced. He said the government taken initiatives in that direction. Peter Glotz, Secretary General of the SPD said more attention should be paid to the neo-Nazi phenomenon.

Much of the seminar was devoted to discussions by experts of recent public opinion polls which showed that 13 percent of the West German population holds views characterized by hatred toward foreign groups. Social scientists said that by their nature, those views could be classified as neo-Nazi. But they disagreed as to whether the resurgence of neo-Nazi ideas was caused by economic decline and unemployment or reflected other factors. The pollsters who conducted the survey on behalf of the government said the results did not indicate a definite relationship between unemployment and extreme rightwing opinions.

Meanwhile, another debate is underway on the anti-Semitic or anti-Israel bias among certain leftwing groups in the Federal Republic. It was triggered two months ago when a young German Jew, Henryk Broder, immigrated to Israel. He left a letter to his former leftwing friends protesting their anti-Israel views, which was published in the weekly Die Zeit. In an interview published later in Der Spiegel, Broder attacked the Middle East policies of Chancellor Helmut Schmidt.

Both weeklies were flooded with letters supporting or repudiating Broder’s charges against West German society.