The most dramatic session, thus far, of the current plenary Assembly of the World Jewish Congress being held here, took place tonight when, in a tense atmosphere engendered by bitter attacks against Germans by leading delegates, one of West Germany’s most prominent leaders addressed the delegates during a symposium on “The Germans and the Jews.”
The speaker was Dr. Eugen Gerstenmaier, president of the Bundestag, the lower house of Bonn’s Parliament. He had been invited to participate in the symposium by Dr. Nahum Goldmann, WJC president. Hot debates took place on whether or not to let that invitation stand. Finally, two-thirds of the delegates approved the invitation, but voted to let those who wish to boycott the session do so without showing disloyalty to the World Jewish Congress. Today, a parade of speakers addressed the session preceding the symposium, complaining bitterly that it was far too early in history to hear a German speak of Jews.
Dr. Gerstenmaier, speaking at the symposium, conceded that there are still “serious worries” in West Germany about some of the “rising voices” of reaction and anti-Semitism. “There is still a great deal of confusion,” he said. “At the same time, it is true to say that the residue of anti-Semitism and Hitlerite ideas in Germany plays a small part in the life of the country.”
“Those who daub anti-Semitic slogans on the walls, and desecrate cemeteries, are hooligans who don’t even know what anti-Semitism is,” Dr. Gerstenmaier continued. “But they know that such acts create nervous tensions in the country, and that is why they do it. Some people have pointed out correctly that anti-Semitism in Germany cannot be cured by simply loving the Jews. It is a question of normalization, of going back to decent values.”
Alluding to the sharp protests against his appearance on a WJC platform, the German leader said: “I realize that I might have overstepped my limits. I realize that we Germans will still, for a long time, not be able to feel that we can go back, in regard to the Jews, to a normal relationship. But let me thank you again for letting me speak here. And I say thank you not only for myself. It is the German Parliament that says thank you through me to the World Jewish Congress.”
Dr. Goldmann, as president of the WJC, and the plenary session’s presidium, received cables from West Germany’s Chancellor Ludwig Erhard and Berlin Mayor Willy Brandt, lauding Jewish contributions to the world, endorsing the invitation to Dr. Gerstenmaier and, in general, voicing attitudes toward Jewry similar to those expressed by the Bundestag president. But none of those messages mollified the symposium opponents inside the Congress.
OPPONENTS AND PROPONENTS OF GERMAN-JEWISH DIALOGUE VOICE ARGUMENTS
Statements against the invitation to Dr. Gerstenmaier were made by representatives of Herut, Mapam and Achdut Avodah. Additionally, Mrs. C. Chaya Grossman, of Israel, spoke on behalf of four Israeli organizations of fighters against Nazism.
“It is much too early,” she maintained, “to hold a dialogue between Germans and Jews. Even today, in Germany, former SS men are freely organized; judges and professors who began their careers under Hitler are today at the top of the social ladder; revanchist propaganda is extremely lively. All this is going on with, at least, the tacit approval of the West German Government.” Representatives of Mapam and Achdut Avodah spoke in similar vein.
Isaac Remba, on behalf of Herut, told the session: “In thousands of German homes, there are still the candlesticks of our mothers. Countless German women still wear the jewelry given by Jewish parents to their children on festive occasions. Thousands of Germans still enjoy Jewish possession without remorse — otherwise, they would have returned these. Large numbers of murderers are free all over Germany. The German who will appear on our rostrum will be faced with the ghosts of the millions of people who died a thousand horrible deaths at the hands of his nation.”
Viewing the situation in a moderate manner were some of the participants in the symposium proper, among them Prof. Gershom Scholem, of the Hebrew University in Jerusalem and Prof. Salo W. Baron, of Columbia University.
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.
