A spokesman for the Christian Democratic Union, reacting to sharp criticism over statements by two CDU leaders that they did not consider the extremist National Democratic party neo-Nazi, said today that the CDU would never enter a coalition with the NPD if it wins seats in the Bundestag in the Sept. 28 elections.
The statement by CDU Bundestag spokesman, Rainer Barzel, followed denunciations by the CDU coalition partner, the Social Democrats, and from the Free Democrats, of Chancellor Kurt Kiesinger and Bundestag President Kai Uwe von Hassel. Chancellor Kiesinger had been quoted also as saying the only worrisome aspect of the prospect that the NPD would win seats next month was the possible impact on public opinion abroad.
The controversy was heightened after a riotous meeting in Frankfurt which led Frankfurt prosecutor Dietrich Rahn to file charges against NPD “monitors” accused on beating protesters and passersby outside the meeting hall. The six-and-a-half million member west German Trade Union demanded a ban on all future NPD meetings. Union leaders said that an NPD meeting scheduled at Congress Hall in Dusseldorf would be a danger to life and limb. The West German police union praised Frankfurt citizens for opposing the “fascist” NPD which the union compared to the Brown Shirts of the Nazi era.
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.
