European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - January 24, 1993, Darmstadt, Hesse Cast. The newspaper die Tage Zeitung recently asked a Why did no to we unify with Cameroon a that a indicative of the growing estrangement among germans. The weekly Magazine Spiegel claims Many Western germans think a but would never say a that the country does no to have half a million refugees looking for Asylum but 1? million the Eastern German German government officials including Chan cellar Helmut Kohl never tire of claiming that most germans Are not anti foreigner but a Survey by the Enid Institute in Bonn belies that sentiment. The Survey shows that More than a Quarter of the nation s population thinks there Are far too Many foreigners in the country thirty seven percent be Lieve the foreigners have Only themselves to blame for their troubles because they should t be Here. In mid november the far right German Republic cans led by sex is Man Franz Schoenhuber claimed. The party membership had mushroomed to 23,000 from just 5,000 the year before. What s happening now experts agree is that the seeds of hate and violence Are coming to fruition. On nov. 25 in Bautzen in Eastern Germany a 14 year old German schoolgirl was attacked in front of her House by two skinheads. She was dragged out of Public sight and a hand sized Swastika carved into her Check. She quoted the youths As saying a you slut we will return. If you Don t join the nazis Well finish you . The girl was probably identified by the attackers As a leftist because she wore a palestinian kerchief police said. Wood the sex i offers answers to Why the East pm part of the country is in trouble. A Brandenburg like the other six new states is undergoing Many changes in Many aspects a to a social Market Economy. They have 18 percent unemployed and it s rising. Many people Are Early retired and there a a general climate of insecurity a Young people Are frustrated and there s social unrest and they blame the weakest in the society a the refugees. I would not say this fascism is in their blood As some people claim. The right wingers from the West Are taking advantage of the Uncertain Wood said the violence worries him personally although germans Tell him they Don t consider him a real foreigner. A a they Tell me you Are White speak the language and Are integrated into German life but i reject that notion rigorously. I am a Wood also said he Hopes the United states docs not withdraw from Europe because he believes europeans could learn some. Gun tar grass thing about tolerance and cultural coexistence from of violence it would be false to believe Gemian right Wing radicalism sprang up just recently. Gerd Kro Schroder reported on the underground fascist scene for Stern Magazine from the Early 1970s through the 1980s. In the mid 70s, Kro Schroder joined then exposed a Kun flux klan group in the Pitburg area run by an air Force sergeant. The majority of the members of the group were German Neo nazis. The ser Geant was subsequently forced out of the service. The Neo nazi subculture is served by publications ranging from the primitive skinhead stung is kampf Ruf National socialist Call to Battle Prois Sens Gloria prussians glory and White Power to the More sophisticated monthly critic on. Right Wing Rock or a a Tascho Rock a As the germans Call it is served up by groups like St Faktor Roehse onkels ton storing end Sieg and Stuka. What does this militant right look like the a look Quot includes turned up Jean cuffs English Dock worker shoes and bomber Pilot jackets. It also features shaven skulls. Ignaz Bubis chairman of the Central Council of jews in Germany compares the anti foreigner outbreak to anti semitism. Women on the anti nazi front to Strong and daring voices that Rise above the mass protest against no nazi activity Are those of Anja Rosmus and Beate Klarsfeld. Rosmus an author from Passau Germany is better known As a that Nasty that was the title of the film which was about Rosmus life made by Michael Verh Ocvin in 1990, it was entered into the foreign language category for an Academy award a year later. The film did t walk off with top prizes but was a Success in metropolitan Box offices and with the critics. Rosmus has shown singular courage in describing in three books the involvement of her towns people in the history of the holocaust. Because Rosmus a Catholic has refused to spare the feelings of High placed people in the Church government and Commerce she has suffered right Wing persecution and threats. Shortly before Christmas she returned from a nine week tour to Canada and the United states where she received the holocaust award to those who make a difference in Albany . Beate Klarsfeld the award is a six armed Candle Holder that represents the 6 million jews murdered in the holocaust. The recipient the year before was nazi Hunter Klarsfeld. Rosmus said she travelled across the United states and Canada talking to University and other people were Vicy interested in what s happening in Germany and they had a lot of knowledge except for one fact they did t realize it was happening All Over Germany and for How Long this has been going on. When i told them there were 1,600 attacks last year alone they were astonished Quot she said. Rosmus also spent time in the National archives in Washington where she found More Tea trial for her fourth Book on her Hometown of Passau. A this Book will Deal with the last Days of the third Reich in Passau a she said. A i found that when the americans approached Passau in 1945the citizens of the town were frightened to death that the 2,000 russian prisoners of War being held there would not Only be freed but Given the right to Settle in Passau and the surroundings. The Good citizens of Passau went to nazi Headquarters and to the is to ask them to exterminate the russians. A they both refused. Then the Good citizens of Passau and the Hitler youth went out on their own and massacred the russians in the most brutal manner a cutting off genitals Etc. Only two russians survived. The americans took photos when they arrived at the Camp Quot asked How she survives living in the town she Calls the most nazi in Germany Rosmus said a Many of these killers Are still walking rpt ind it the town somebody has to Tell the Story. It s not Over for the Rosmus said the greatest fallacy about recent Neo nazi activity is that it s something new. A it s always been there Quot she said. A a bit it is growing. Its True that these nazis Are a minority but its also True that the majority docs nothing against them and that there a a growing a cup Tancic of their 1 Rosmus has two daughters 8 and 10 years old. A a teach them everything i know about our recent past. I also take them with me when i visit the jewish communities. 1 took them All Over Poland to the concentration Camp Sites and they Are very Well aware that some thing terrible happened to jews during the third Reich and that there Are some people who still have these terrible Klarsfeld a German Gentile has been depicted As a nazi Hunter a a kind of female Simon Wiesenthal. An Anja Rosmus american television film was made about her and her jewish French Hus band Serge s anti nazi activities in Germany and France. The Klaus folds who live in Paris made the news again last year in Rostock in Eastern Germany when they along with a group of children of holocaust survivors were briefly arrested for protesting German policies Ori Gypsy refugees. Of the attacks on refugee Homes Klarsfeld said it is hard to believe the police could t have prevented Many of them. A they were very Quick to crack Down on left Wing terror. They even built Stamm him Quot she said. Stamm him is a High Security prison outside Stuttgart built to jail members of the left Wing Baader minho gang. Nevertheless Klarsfeld said she is optimistic about Germany because there Are Many people demonstrating against nazis and determined to Stop their violence. Red Reavis a whomever attacks occur on a a africans afghans gypsies poles or turks a jews Are also meant Quot Bubis said. Quot we jews arc not in the foreground of the attacks because there is Only some 50,000 of us Here and not the half million Bubis said for a Large number of germans jews just Don t belong no matter How Many generations they be lived in the country. Bubis and other prominent germans such As author Gunter grass place some of the blame for the recent Neo nazi excesses on a German government that underestimated and even soft peddled attacks As a typical Youthful German writer Ralph Giordano is one of the critics of the government s hesitation in cracking Down on rightists. He and others have called Chancellor Kohl the a a sorcerer a Giordano and noted nazi Hunter Beate Klarsfeld claim Kohl originally released the evil Genie of German nationalism with his visit with president Reagan to Pitburg in 1985. At that time Kohl arranged a ceremony at a world War ii cemetery where is men were buried critics of the ceremony claim Kohl was exonerating nazi crimes by the act. Others hailed it As a gesture of atonement. Still others interpreted it As a gesture of gratefulness by Kohl for an is that Faith fully served its country. A the government tried to use scare tactics with the voters by claiming there was a danger of being overrun by refugees a Klarsfeld said a it backfired in their face and erupted into violence and has helped the right Winger party the republicans and not the democratic parties at Kohl publicly criticized the violence and said his government will do everything to suppress it. Bonn promptly in legalized three Neo nazi parties Bubis a concentration Camp survivor claims Germany is not on the Brink of turning fascist. A this is not 1938,&Quot Bubis shouted to a band of egg throwing leftist demonstrators in Berlin who upset the show of Solidarity by 350,000 people who demonstrated against xenophobia and racism. January 24,1993 sunday a Page 5
