Reports of Israel’s refusal to end the state of war with Germany has saddened many Germans, but they also understand the reasons for Israel’s attitude, Erich Lueth, director of the Bonn Government’s press department in Hamburg, declared today in an article in the newspaper Neue Zeitung.
Lueth added that all “decent” Germans want peace with Israel. He expressed regret that neither the Bonn Government nor Parliament nor the German universities had thought of publicly asking for peace with Israel. He also deplored the fact that the government had not called on the German people for the payment of moral and material restitution to the Jews, adding that even West German President Theodor Heuss’ remarks about “Germany’s collective shame” in relation to the Jews had found no response among the German people.
Among a list of pre-conditions for asking Israel for peace, Lueth included the necessity for first eradicating all traces of anti-Semitism from Germany and showing that the German people “love and respect every Jew in Germany.”
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.
