The West German Government, in its first official statement on the wave of anti-Semitic incidents which have followed the Christmas Eve desecration of the Cologne synagogue, charged yesterday that the incidents were part of “a planned action to defame the Federal Republic in the eyes of the world.”
The statement did not contain any indication as to the source of the alleged plot to smear the West German Republic.
In the statement, the Bonn Government declared that German police authorities “are conducting extensive inquiries to identify the wire-pullers behind the acts” and promised that police “will do everything they can to bring the guilty people to justice and prevent the repetition of incidents of this kind.”
The statement asserted that the Federal Government and “the whole German people” had reacted to the incidents “with greatest indignation.”
Even as the statement was issued, more reports were made of new incidents. The spate of such incidents has spread to Schleswig-Holstein in the north and to Baden-Wuerttemberg in the south. More incidents followed those of last week–in Bavaria, Hesse, Westphalia and Lower Saxony.
Meanwhile, Dr. Heinrich Luebke, president of the West German Republic, declared in a New Year message that the “vila act” of the Cologne synagogue desecration was the result of “our own arrogance.” Urging the German people to prevent such “abhorrent” acts, against the Jews, Dr. Luebke said “each one of us must from now on be watchful that such attacks against the defenseless will not happen again.”
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.
