Henrich Lummer, a Senator in the West Berlin legislature, is under fire for publicly expressing regret that the Allies have banned the neo-Nazi National Democratic Party (NPD) from West Berlin. The three opposition parties in the city and the trade union movement are demanding the resignation of the 49-year-old Christian Democratic Union (CDU) official.
Lummer reportedly made his remarks at a meeting of his party’s trade unionists. He told reporters that he had criticized the situation in which only rightwing extremists were banned while leftwing extremists enjoyed full political rights.
Wilhelm Wiegreffe, the Berlin spokesman for the Social Democratic Party (SPD) called Lummer’s remarks a disgrace to the city. He recalled that only a few weeks ago, Berlin took note of the 40th anniversary of the infamous Wannsee Conference where the Nazi leadership decided on the “final solution” for the Jews.
Harold Loch, of the Free Democratic Party (FDP) accused Lummer of attacking the status of West Berlin under Allied protection. Reinhold Ossowski, a member of the CDU’s trade union organization, said Lummer’s scandalous remarks rendered him unfit for his job.
The Allied Powers recently confirmed the ban on the NPD in West Berlin and prevented it from holding its national convention in the city. The ban is based on the 1945 Potsdam accord in which the Allies are committed to the total destruction of the Nazi party or any similar organization. The NPD is legal in the Federal Republic.
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.
