Jewish groups expressed outrage after a German politician played down the Nazi past
of a deceased judge. Gunther Ottinger, state premier of
Baden-Wurttemberg, officiated at the funeral last week of Hans Filbinger,
who served as a German naval judge under the Nazi regime. In his eulogy,
Ottinger said that Filbinger had not been a Nazi, a comment that drew
rebukes from Chancellor Angela Merkel and German Jewish leaders. Ottinger
voiced regret for the outcry but was unapologetic, saying that Filbinger,
who died at age 93 on April 1, had opposed the Nazis but was unable to resist them.
Filbinger, Ottinger’s predecessor as Baden-Wurttemberg’s state
premier, was forced to step down in 1978 after his Nazi past was
uncovered.In a statement issued last Friday, the Brussels office of B’nai B’rith International condemned the
praise for Filbinger as “an outrageous affront to history.”
Ottinger’s eulogy, the statement said, “demonstrates he’s out of step with his own society,” which had “done a commendable job of taking responsibility for the atrocities
committed during World War II.”
