An American Jewish - German Information & Opinion Newsletter

1. AN AMERICAN JEWISH – GERMAN INFORMATION & OPINION
NEWSLETTER
10 Voorhis Point, South Nyack, NY (845)353-1945
dubowdigest@optonline.net
AMERICAN EDITION
October 16, 2012
Dear Friends:
I’m tired! I’m “election-ed out!” It seems as if our own election has been going on for,
not months, but eons (It has!). Now, to add to that, an opponent for Chancellor
Merkel has been named (see below) for the 2013 German election and, lo and
behold, Prime Minister Netanyahu has called for early (Jan. 22) elections in Israel.
It’s good for the media and the pundits but it’s tough on us poor regular people who
have to slog through all the political verbiage in order to see who might become
leaders of those nations we care about the most. However, we trudge on!
The German government is still trying to hold the European Union together as the
economic pushes and pulls (mostly pulls) seem intent on breaking it up. In the midst
of all that the Norwegian Nobel Prize Committee awarded its Peace Prize to the
European Union though, interestingly, Norway is not an EU member. An AJC press
release noted. “The Nobel Committee observed that war between such countries as
France and Germany is unthinkable, that the fall of the Berlin Wall opened a new
era, making possible EU membership for several Central and Eastern European
countries, and advanced reconciliation in the Balkans. “The stabilizing part played
by the EU has helped to transform most of Europe from a continent of war to a
continent of peace,” the Nobel Committee said.
Though there have been many skeptical comments about the award and the EU
itself, however, one should remember that it is a “Peace Award” and not one for
Economics. As far as “peace” is concerned it has done its job.
Back to the economy – something about which I have almost no expertise. However,
German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaueble has plenty and is a master politician
besides. In a Spiegel On-Line article he proposed a Master Plan for Europe. If you’re
interested click here to read about it.
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2. http://www.spiegel.de/international/europe/schaeuble-presents-euro-reforms-and-
broad-new-powers-for-eu-a-861529.html
Let’s get on with the news…
IN THIS EDITION
THE CHALLENGER – A long time Social Democrat will go against Chancellor
Merkel. Can he put together a winning coalition?
ANTI-SEMITISM: A NEW WAVE? – Do several incidents make a wave?
IS ENOUGH, ENOUGH? – How much financial help do fellow Germans deserve?
WHAT WERE THEY THINKING? WHAT ARE THEY THINKING? - About the Jews
that is!
AN END TO THE CIRCUMCISION DEBATE? Can the Bundestag really end it?
NEW LOOK – SAME OLD NAZIS – Do new clothes change what is essential?
RELIGION IN GERMANY: PAY OR GO (OUT) - No Euros, no Heaven.
THE CHALLENGER
With the German elections coming up in about a year the Social Democratic Party
(SPD), the major opponent of Chancellor Merkel’s Christian Democrats (CDU), has
named the person who will oppose her for the Chancellor position. You will be
hearing a lot about him in the next 12 months as he becomes the “point man” in an
effort to dislodge Germany’s most popular politician.
The candidate is Peer Steinbruck. Wikipedia notes, ““Steinbrück was born in
Hamburg on 10 January 1947…[He].studied economics in Kiel [and] graduated in
1974.
After graduation Steinbrück worked for several German ministries and, from 1978 to
1981, in the office of German Chancellor Helmut Schmidt. In the 1980s, Steinbrück
was Chief of Staff to the Minister President of North Rhine-Westphalia, Johannes
Rau.
In 1993, he became Minister of Economy and Infrastructure in the State of
Schleswig-Holstein. He then returned to North Rhine-Westphalia, where he became
Minister of Economy and Infrastructure in 1998 and Finance Minister in 2000.
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3. From 2002 to 2005 Peer Steinbrück served as Minister President (Ministerpräsident
or governor) of North Rhine-Westphalia. He headed a coalition government between
the SPD and the Green Party.
In the state election on 22 May 2005, Steinbrück's SPD lost to the Christian
Democratic (CDU) opposition. This loss also had consequences for federal
politics: then German Chancellor Gerhard Schröder, who already was enfeebled
by weak opinion polls and criticism within his own party, announced to call for an
early federal election for the Bundestag. This ultimately resulted in the 2005
federal election.
After the 2005 Bundestag election, SPD and CDU formed a grand coalition
under the leadership of new Chancellor Angela Merkel (CDU). Peer Steinbrück
became finance minister of Germany. Since 2005, he also has been deputy
chairman of the SPD. He is generally considered a member of the more
conservative wing of the party.
After the 2005 Bundestag election, SPD and CDU formed a grand coalition
under the leadership of new Chancellor Angela Merkel (CDU). Peer Steinbrück
became finance minister of Germany. Since 2005, he also has been deputy
chairman of the SPD. He is generally considered a member of the more
conservative wing of the party.
The SPD has turned to a very experienced leader who has held the post of
Finance Minister at a time when finance and economics will be the key
questions before the German electorate.
In commenting on the selection, Spiegel Online observed, “Steinbrück, though,
is widely credited with having shown a steady hand during the darkest moments
of the crisis in 2008 and 2009. And he has also given every indication recently
that he is up for the challenge. "Steinbrück is the most dangerous candidate for
Merkel because he is attractive to centrist voters," political analyst Gero
Neugebauer told Reuters on Friday. Gerd Langguth, another well-respected
commentator on German politics, added: "He would be the most capable of
poaching voters from the conservative camp."
So we now know who will be taking on Germany’s best politician. Because it’s
virtually impossible for any party to gain a majority by itself, Germany almost
always has to have a ruling coalition. Steinbrück will have to cozy up to the
Green Party the SPD’s natural partner. The battle will soon be underway as
Germany becomes more like the U.S. and has long election campaigns. While
there will be no direct campaigning until next year, I expect that the verbal
shooting will start very shortly.
We’ll try to keep you updated as the battle unfolds.
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4. BTW – If you want to read a very good interpretative article click here to read
one by Dr. Jackson Janes, the director of Johns Hopkins’ American Institute for
Contemporary Studies. http://www.aicgs.org/issue/election-2013-germanys-
campain-commences/
ANTI-SEMITISM: A NEW WAVE?
Giulio Meotti writing in Y-Net News.com about a new disgraceful poem from the
pen of Günter Grass headed his article, “Something Rotten in Germany”. While
I’ll get to Grass in a few moments, with a tip of the hat to Shakespeare, I would
add that the Grass poem is just a blip on the screen when compared to other
rotten matters taking place in the Federal Republic.
In the last two issues I have reported extensively on the “circumcision circus”
wherein the circumcision of male children all of a sudden has been called into
question. Without question, it is a direct poke in the eye of Jews and Muslims
who have had this religious ceremony performed for thousands of years. On top
of that a kippa wearing rabbi was viciously attacked (broken cheek bone) and
had his young daughter threatened by a gang of youths who have not as yet
been apprehended.
As if that was not enough, DW recently reported, “On Wednesday (26.09.2012), the
Secretary General of the Central Council of Jews in Germany, Stephan Kramer, was
threatened with an attack. On the same day, a taxi driver in Berlin refused to drive a
family to a synagogue. Both cases have been picked up by the police for
investigation.
I have known Stephan (a good friend) for a long time. He is a well known and
articulate spokesperson for Germany’s Jewish community, and in this case was
interviewed by Ofer Aderet for Haaretz.
Stephan stated, “"I carry a gun 24 hours a day, seven days a week," Kramer
responded, adding that he did not feel under threat at the moment because he had
just returned to the city after being away.
Kramer said he no longer trusts the Germans. "Only the Jews can save
themselves," he said.
On Yom Kippur, Kramer says he made use of the gun, pointing to it "to scare off" a
man who threatened him on a street in this city. "He yelled at me very aggressively
... asking me what I am doing here and that I had had no right to be here," Kramer
said. "He also yelled at my children, [aged] 8 and 10," Kramer related, adding that
the man came within five centimeters of his face.
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5. "He screamed that if my kids weren't there he would ... I had to guess what ... Hit
me, kill me," Kramer continued, adding, "Then I decided to tell him that I carry a gun
and showed it." Kramer explained that he opened his coat to reveal the gun to the
man but emphasized that he did not draw the weapon. "I hoped it would scare him,"
Kramer said."
Both men filed complaints with the police, who are investigating the incident.
Kramer, 44, has held his post at the organization, which oversees 106 Jewish
communities comprising around 100,000 individuals, for five years. Berlin, where he
lives, is home to about 12,000 Jews.
Just a few weeks before, Kramer related, he was standing near the Cologne
Cathedral with other Jewish leaders when a group of people "passed us on the
street and said, 'Look, Jews!' the way that people say, 'Look at the monkeys in the
cage," Kramer said.
Once, Kramer said, only "losers and drunks" did such things, but "today it's people
from the middle of society ... bank clerks, insurance agents, people with cars and
children," adding, "When it reaches the normal people it's more dangerous."
When asked about the reasons for this behavior Kramer said: "It's not because they
love Hitler and what he said. It's because they fear for the future. The economic
crisis and [Germany's] identity crisis" makes Germans more extreme in their
attitudes toward minorities, Kramer suggested.
I fully sympathize with Stephan. If I was accosted (even verbally) on a public
street, especially if I had young children with me, I would be furious and angry
as well. I think the last paragraph shows his good common sense. What is
driving some Germans (only some, of course) to look for scapegoats is, as
Stephan accurately notes, is the economic situation and their own identity
problems. Insecurity pushes people to extreme acts and, in most societies, Jews
become a likely target. While I sympathize with insecure people, as Stephan
points out, sometimes they are dangerous. History, especially the 1930’s and
1940’s in Germany are good examples.
Let me now briefly deal with the new Grass poem. The Jerusalem Post reported,
“Gunter Grass, the Nobel Prize laureate in literature who is barred from entering
Israel because of his anti-Israel writings and membership in the Nazi Waffen SS,
launched a second poetic attack on Israel by praising atomic spy Mordechai
Vanunu.
In a new book of poems titled Eintagsfliegen, which was released on Saturday
in Germany, Grass terms Vanunu, a former worker at the Dimona nuclear
facility, a “hero” for his decision to transfer secret information to England’s
Sunday Times in 1986. An Israeli court later convicted Vanunu of espionage and
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6. sentenced him to 18 years in prison.
In the poem titled “Hero of our days,” Grass praises him as a “model” because
“he helped to bring the truth” to the public.
I’m not a psychiatrist but I believe Grass’ hatred of Israel has really pushed him
over the line. The news a couple of years ago about his voluntary service in the
Waffen SS, which he withheld for many years, so shredded his credibility that
even his Nobel Prize didn’t save his reputation. His anger toward the victims
encapsulated in Israel is quite obvious. One can only now see him as an old
bitter man.
Before leaving this set of very troublesome events, one must ask the question
as to whether if taken together add up to something that the Germans must take
more seriously. If the anti-Israel/anti-Semitism focus has taken a turn to the
worse by more of the population, it is bad for the Jews but, frankly, worse for
Germany. It is something that must be watched closely and dealt with before it
blossoms again into something very unhealthy in German life.
IS ENOUGH, ENOUGH?
When is enough, enough? When the two Germanys were reunited on October 3,
1990 one was strong and rich while the other was poor, dysfunctional and in need of
a lot of help especially the financial variety.
DW recently reported, “The former East German states have been subsidized to the
tune of billions of euros - not always successfully. Struggling regions in the west now
want a share of the financial support.
Twenty-two years after German unification, the gap between east and west is
widening once again. The gross domestic product in the eastern states has shrunk
by 2 percent, and now stands at just 71 percent of per-capita GDP in the West.
Prospects are not good. Many of the young generation are moving away; not
enough trainees are coming onto the eastern German job market. Wages and
salaries there are about a quarter less than what they are in the western states.
But in western Germany, too, there are entire regions struggling with the
consequences of structural change. The industrial Ruhr valley is just one example.
For a long time now many people have been calling for an overhaul of the system,
and for subsidies to be allocated differently. Two decades after the euphoria of
unification, the everyday reality is hitting home.
In discussing the reunification process, DW further noted, “Within just a few years,
the Treuhand agency responsible for privatizing East German industry had sold off
around 14,000 state enterprises. The Solidarity Pact, a massive program of
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7. subsidies for the East, pumped a net worth of around 1.4 billion euros into eastern
Germany between 1990 and 2010. Around two-thirds of this was for social welfare
payments - and still is.
This historic agreement is valid until 2019, but year by year the subsidies given to
the East are gradually being reduced.
My reading is that at the moment the German economy is in fairly good shape.
However, after all these years of pouring money into the East are the “Wessies”
getting fed up and will they start demanding that more of their tax money be diverted
to needed improvements in the West?
There is no direct “Jewish” quotient in this matter. However, with the East still
relatively poor and needing financial help while the West is questioning whether they
should be continuing such assistance, what impact does that have on German
politics? Do extremists grab hold of the issue in order to further incite political
unrest? Do the neo-Nazis, and their NPD party, become the champions of whatever
social unrest develops?
I think it goes without saying that any diversion of funds has political implications and
that is something that has to be thought through carefully.
WHAT WERE THEY THINKING? WHAT ARE THEY THINKING?
Once I was old enough to realize what had happened in World War II especially to
the Jews, I began to ask myself, “What were people in Germany thinking during the
Nazi period? Didn’t they understand what was going on and what their government
was doing to other people; some of them their own citizens?”
After reading a number of books on the subject and talking to present day Germans
I came to know, I added to my questions, “What about the youngsters today? What
do they think?”
While there are numerous books and articles on the subject(s) a new one has just
been published which includes a very personal angle. Spiegel Online reported,
“German historian Moritz Pfeiffer broke new ground this year with a book analyzing
why his grandparents supported the Nazi regime, based on an interview with his
grandfather and systematic fact-checking of his statements.
His approach was unprecedented. The roles played by parents and grandparents
during the Nazi era have been a taboo subject in many German families.
In the book, "My Grandfather in the War 1939-1945," published in March, Pfeiffer
said his grandparents had suffered the same "moral insanity" that gripped many
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8. Germans of their generation -- an emotional coldness, a lack of self-criticism and a
"strong deficit of moral judgment."
He said he hoped others of his generation would follow suit and start questioning
relatives of that generation before the Third Reich passes out of living memory.
Judging by the reaction to his book in recent months, that call has fallen on deaf
ears as far as younger Germans are concerned. But it has struck a chord with older
people born during or shortly after the war, many of whom feel that they were left in
the dark about what their parents did and thought, Pfeiffer told Spiegel On-Line.
"At each of my readings, people from that generation said they weren't told anything
by their parents," said Pfeiffer, a historian at a museum on the SS at Wewelsburg
Castle. "Family life was marked by silence, evasion and suppression relating to the
experiences during the 1933-1945 period. In addition, people told me they regretted
not having learned much about it in school either."
Conversely, younger generations, the grandchildren and great-grandchildren, have
been taught extensively about the Holocaust and Nazism in school, through
television documentaries, public memorial services and the Internet, said Pfeiffer.
But while they are well-informed, they see it as an abstract event unconnected with
their own personal family history -- even though millions of Germans knew about the
Holocaust while it was happening.
Moritz Pfeiffer has done a service by digging deeply into German thinking of the
1930’s and 1940’s but more important is the final paragraph above regarding young
Germans today. The thought that these youngsters have removed themselves
psychologically from the Nazi period (and the Holocaust) is nothing new. It’s been
obvious for a long time. Do we fault them? I don’t see how we can. People will think
and feel what they will and no outside force can really change that. What is also
obvious is that no matter how good and deep education is, it is not truly capable of
changing attitudes, especially ones that lead to guilt. Kids are not going to feel guilty
for something that is very removed from them.
Do we give up and forget about it? I hope not but there must be a different kind of
positive direction education can take that will be mentally healthy for them while, at
the same time, producing positive attitudes toward democracy, Jews and, for our
purposes, Israel.
I am not an educational expert or one that is comfortable with philosophy. However,
it seems to me that our focus on more and more Holocaust education will get us
nowhere. What is needed is early education (starting with the family and
kindergarten) on the positives associated with democracy. Salted in must be the fact
that of all the Middle Eastern countries only Israel is truly democratic. As far as Jews
are concerned, some early teaching about Jews and the Jewish community of today
should be highlighted. A visit to a synagogue or a Jewish school would do a lot more
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9. than another lecture.
I don’t want to get too carried away. I am sure that others are way ahead of me with
similar ideas and programs. AJC itself has something called Hands Across the
Campus which does much of what I’ve suggested. I’m probably a latecomer.
Enough! Just let it be said that if more attention is paid to the very young (even in the
U.S.) we won’t have to concern ourselves as much with the question of “What are
they thinking?”
AN END TO THE CIRCUMCISION DEBATE?
Is the circumcision debate in Germany finally coming to an end? Y-Net News
reported, “Germany's cabinet approved a ruling by a Cologne district court that
circumcision constitutes "bodily harm" sparked an emotional national debate about
religious freedom and the procedure itself.
An embarrassed German government pledged to bring in new legislation by the
autumn to safeguard the right of parents to have their sons circumcised.
"It was always our intention to lift this ruling," German government spokesman
Steffen Seibert told a news conference.
Parliament must still approve the bill for it to become law.
The speed with which national lawmakers agreed to draw up a new law underscored
sensitivity to charges of intolerance in a country haunted by its Nazi past.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel said the country risked becoming a laughing
stock if Jews were not allowed to practice their rituals.
The bill states that the operation should take place with the most effective pain relief
possible and only if parents have been fully informed about the nature of the
procedure. It makes no mention of religious motivations for circumcision.
The court ban had applied only to the Cologne region but doctors across the country
refused to carry out operations because of what they saw as a risk of legal action.
"It was very important that our government reacted so quickly and responsibly. The
proposal is balanced and suitable for lifting the legal uncertainty," said Charlotte
Knobloch, a German Jewish leader.
The Times of Israel added, “Jewish groups welcomed the bill, which was drafted by
the Justice Ministry in Berlin. “It is a clear political signal that Jews and Muslims are
still welcome in Germany,” said Dieter Graumann, the president of the Central
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10. Council of Jews in Germany. “We are happy that Jewish commandments and
Jewish life are not being pushed into illegality.”
However, Deidre Berger, executive director of the Berlin office of the American
Jewish Committee, said she was “extremely concerned” whether the Bundestag will
indeed vote the bill into law. “Public opinion seems to be against circumcision, and
many parliamentary delegates from all parties are ambivalent. In addition, major
medical associations in Germany are anti-circumcision and are likely to oppose the
draft law,” she told the Forward.
Groups critical of ritual circumcisions have already come out against the bill.
Deutsche Kinderhilfe, a children’s rights group, said the government acted blindly
and denies children their legal rights, according to the DPA news agency. “It is
creating more problems than it is solving,” the group’s chairman, Georg Ehrmann,
said about the proposed law, criticizing that it accepts painkillers that in his view are
insufficient.
Perhaps a positive Bundestag vote will end the legal situation at least for the
moment. It looks as if it will happen in November but maybe my AJC colleague
Deidre Berger is right and there will be a battle. No matter what, there is little doubt
in my mind that the medical associations and child protection agencies will continue
their fight to, at least, have all circumcisions only performed by medical doctors.
The new law, even if it is passed quickly by the Bundestag, will leave a bad taste in
the mouths of many Jews and others who have not forgotten Germany’s anti-Semitic
history. Some things go away, some things don’t. In my opinion the circumcision
matter has all the elements of something that will be long lasting.
NEW LOOK – SAME OLD NAZIS
The Forward ran a Reuters article detailing the “New Look” that today’s neo-Nazis
have in Germany. It notes, “Germany’s neo-Nazis are hanging up their bomber
jackets, unlacing their black leather boots and even grabbing a bite to eat at their
local Turkish kebab shop.
Eschewing their predecessors’ fierce aversion to anything “un-German”, they blend
into the local community and easily escape detection. But police and experts say
this new generation of young fascists is potentially far more dangerous and reckless
than their older peers.
“Today a neo-Nazi can eat Turkish kebabs and still go out and beat up immigrants,”
said journalist Johannes Radke, who has reported on the German far-right for more
than a decade.
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11. “They say, ‘We’ll let everyone do whatever they want as long as they’re a Nazi at
heart.’”
Headquartered in the down-at-heel western industrial city of Dortmund, a new group
known as the Autonomous Nationalists (AN) is at the forefront of this transformation.
They share the hard-core xenophobia of older cadres in the far-right, but their
appearance and tactics are those of a dynamic, Internet-savvy youth movement.
They wear stylish running shoes and expensive brand name windbreakers and
communicate with each other via Twitter. The use of English slogans at protests, for
decades taboo in far-right circles, is widespread.
“They see themselves as the avant-garde of the Nazi scene,” Radke said. “They’re
much more professional than some drunk, dim-witted skinhead - and more
dangerous.”
Why should we be surprised? Wearing jack boots, brown uniforms and using the
traditional “Heil Hitler” salute would be stupid and while their leaders might be
extremists they don’t seem dumb. Frankly, they are most dangerous when they look
like and act like everybody else giving off at aura of being reasonable when spewing
their hate-filled anti-immigrant and anti-Semitic message.
The government seems to be on to this new look and, hopefully they will be following
it closely. Read the full article by clicking here.
http://forward.com/articles/164072/germany-battles-new-look-neo-nazis/?p=1
BTW there is also something called the neo-Nazi music scene. There’s a lot more to
it than just a name. Click here to read about it.
http://www.thelocal.de/society/20121011-45489.html
RELIGION IN GERMANY: PAY OR GO (OUT)
For those of you who are members of synagogues and complain about the high cost
of membership, Jewish education for the kids and seats for the High Holy Days,
consider yourself lucky. If you were a German Catholic and didn’t pay your dues (in
Germany it’s a tax) according to Juergen Baetz reporting for AP, you would, “be
denied sacraments, including weddings, baptisms and funerals. Your road to heaven
would have arrived at a Stop Sign.
A decree issued last week by the country's bishops cast a spotlight on the
longstanding practice in Germany and a handful of other European countries in
which governments tax registered believers and then hand over the money to the
religious institutions.
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12. In Germany, the surcharge for Catholics, Protestants and Jews is a surcharge of up
to nine percent on their income tax bills - or about (EURO)56 ($72) a month for a
single person earning a pre-tax monthly salary of about (EURO)3,500 ($4,500).
For religious institutions, struggling to maintain their congregations in a secular
society where the Protestant Reformation began 500 years ago, the tax revenues
are vital.
The Catholic Church in Germany receives about (EURO) 5 billion ($6.5 billion)
annually from the surcharge. For Protestants, the total is just above (EURO)4 billion
($5.2 billion). Donations, in turn, represent a far smaller share of the churches'
income than in the United States.
With rising prices and economic uncertainty, however, more and more Catholics and
Protestants are opting to save their money and declare to tax authorities they are no
longer church members, even if they still consider themselves believers.
While Baetz does not mention Jews in his article, Tax rates.cc notes, “Members of
the Roman Catholic, German Protestant, Lutheran and Jewish churches have to pay
church tax. The tax rate amounts to about 8% or 9% of the annual income tax
liability and varies according to the district of residence. It is a deductible expense
for income tax purposes.
I do not believe that any Jew is denied religious services because of non-payment of
taxes. However, burial in the communal synagogue may be denied. In any case, Mr.
Baetz does a service by pointing out that while elements of religion are free they are
not without cost. The maintaining of buildings plus teacher and clergy salaries are
not inexpensive. However, for many the costs are just too much and so people are
leaving.
Jews are sort of a special case. The vast majority of Jews in Germany are Russians
and have not reached an economic level where they would be subject to the tax. So
they get a free ride. For those of the Muslim faith the matter is even more
complicated. Their religion is not yet formally recognized by the taxing authorities
and so the underwriting of mosques and Imams is private. However, since most are
of Turkish descent and are actually citizens of Turkey, I believe the Turkish
government takes care of much of the cost for them.
If you’d like to read the Baetz piece, click here.
http://apnews.myway.com/article/20120928/DA1ISTDO1.html
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See you in November
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