The Governing Council of the World Jewish Congress ended a meeting here last night with an appeal to the new West German Government of Chancellor Kurt Kiesinger to avert a “new threat to the peace of Europe and the world” stemming from “the bid for power by extremist right-wing forces” in the country.
The Council, representing Jewish communities and organizations in 64 countries, declared in a statement that it was “gravely disquieted at the growing influence of former Nazis and ultra-nationalists” in West Germany. The statement called the electoral gains of the extremist National Democratic Party in Hesse and Bavaria, “a symptom of the steady erosion of a sense of responsibility for the crimes of the Hitler era and of Germany’s obligation to purge itself completely of the evils of Nazism.”
Asserting that the growth of the NDP “marks a renewed effort to undermine democracy in Germany,” the Council statement declared: “Protests in Germany itself against this trend encourage the hope that democratic forces will resist this bid for power by extremist right-wing elements. We call upon the new German Government to take all necessary measures to defeat this threat to German democracy and to the peace of Europe and the world.”
The Council added an appeal “to Jewish communities everywhere to remain vigilant and to help mobilize worldwide democratic public opinion in the face of this menace.” It also urged support “for those democratic forces within Germany itself in their fight to overcome this threat to their security and freedom.”
Speakers at the Council suggested a number of steps which Chancellor Kiesinger’s Government and the West German state governments might take “to curb the growth of extremist forces.” Among them were a ban on reunions and demonstrations by SS veteran groups, stricter control of teaching methods and revisions of school textbooks which gloss over or ignore the Nazi period and strengthening of democratic indoctrination programs in the West German army, where the NDP is reported to be gaining influence.
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