Jerusalem, Heshvan 4, 5754
October 19, 1993
Re: Manifestations of Antisemitism Around the World
Follow-up Report No. 5
Western Europe
The growth of antisemitism in Western Europe manifests itself in two major
ways: the spread of neo-Nazism and the gradual legitimization of large
racist parties with semi-overt antisemitic attitudes (such as the
Republikaner in Germany). The two are not identical, although they
interrelate and are relatively new. Whereas the neo-Nazi organizations
recruit an aggressive minority composed chiefly of marginal types such as
skinheads, the racist parties appeal to a broad public and aim to obtain a
share of government authority. The growth of both the neo-Nazi factions
(which are frequently embroiled in internal conflicts) and the racist
populist parties expresses the radical Right mindset that gained momentum
when Communism collapsed and the left-wing movements, ranging from the
Trotskyists to the Greens, lost some of their luster. The Left, for its
part, has geared up for mass demonstrations and fomented violent clashes and
street warfare between its exponents and those of Right-wing factions.
GERMANY
Neo-Nazism in Germany
1. Most people involved in neo-Nazi manifestations in Germany are aged
15-25, and this is their first venture into politics and public affairs.
For them, neo-Nazism is a way of challenging the establishment and a
cult of symbols of virility and violence uniforms, quasi-military
drills, swastikas, and parties in honor of Hitler's birthday. The
skinheads, close in their views to the neo-Nazis, are noted for their
devotion to racist rock groups. According to conventional wisdom,
neo-Nazism culls its reserves from the ranks of the unemployed, whose
numbers are growing because of the economic recession. However, a study
by the Saxony police, based on interrogation of 500 youngsters
(including skinheads) who had been arrested for far-Right violence,
shows that a large majority of the participants came from middle-class
families; 85 percent were students or held regular jobs. Be this as it
may, even if it transpires that neo- Nazism does correlate with social
distress, it would be a mistake to treat neo-Nazism forgivingly or
minimize its gravity and menace, if only because of the talented
leadership that orchestrates these movements.
2. The neo-Nazis have downscaled their attacks on Jewish individuals and
sites since early 1993, focusing instead on threats and antisemitic
propaganda including Holocaust denial. For example, Ewald Althans of
Munich, who is in charge of public relations, declared in a television
interview that he is not sure that the Nazis truly destroyed European
Jewry. He was prosecuted for this but acquitted because of the
sophisticated phrasing of his remarks. Holocaust denial fits in well
with the neo-Nazi attitude, which centers on the shattering and
disparagement of all that is sacred. These groupings do not hesitate to
threaten the Jews with a new Holocaust including the construction of
incinerators and the reactivation of Auschwitz. Threats against Jewish
author Ralph Giordano were given wide publicity. Another target of
threats is Ignaz Bubis, chairman of the Central Council of German Jews.
These two individuals, and others in Germany, require close police
protection.
3. The German security service reports that there are 81 far-right
organizations, some of which are hard-core neo-Nazi. Several of them
operate in the underground. The total membership of the 81 groups,
including skinheads, is estimated at 6,400 (as compared with 4,200 in
1991). Around them according to figures in the 1992 report of the
German internal security services is a periphery of 41,900 members of
far-Right parties, some 2,000 more than in 1991. Two conventionally
structured parties belong to the neo-Nazi orbit: the National-Democratic
party (5,300 members, down from 6,700) and the German People's Union
(26,000 members, up by 2,000), both of which are represented in several
state parliaments and numerous municipal councils. The figures presented
thus far do not include the Republikaner Party, which claims to have
25,000 members. (This party is discussed later).
According to internal security service data, the membership of
underground neo-Nazi organizations decreased from 2,100 in 1991 to 1,400
in 1992, but the number of groups rose from 30 to 33.
4. In 1992, especially after the serious incidents in the autumn of the
year, the Government of Germany took a series of measures against the
extreme right, including the outlawing of several organizations,
reinforcement of the police, and toughened surveillance of dangerous
elements, including raids on the homes of members of extremist
organizations. Among other things, antisemitic cassettes prepared by the
O'Rama video company were confiscated.
5. In 1992, ultra-Rightists murdered 17 individuals in Germany (compared
with three in 1991), and 2,584 violent crimes were attributed to the far
Right in 1992 (compared with 1,483 in 1991). Most of the offenses were
committed in the former East Germany. The number of attacks decreased in
early 1993, but a new eruption took place in May. An arson attack in the
town of Solingen caused the deaths of two Turkish women and three
children. In all, there were 400 attacks on aliens in May. No attacks
against Jews were reported.
It deserves mention that neo-Nazism is not unique to Germany. Variously
named neo-Nazi groups that avail themselves of skinheads are active in
Austria, France, Sweden, Norway, Denmark, Finland, Italy, Spain,
Belgium, Great Britain, and the Netherlands. Some of these groups
interrelate. On April 17, 1993 (Hitler's birthday), German and Danish
neo-Nazis held an encounter in the town of Mainz, Germany. Another
meeting was supposed to be held in May on the island of Jutland in
Denmark, but it was foiled at the last moment. French and German neo-
Nazis convened in Strasbourg in June. These contacts are apparently the
results of local initiatives; no evidence of the existence of a central
neo-Nazi headquarters or system has been found. Desecrations of
cemeteries in France (in the town of Perpignan), Austria, Sweden,
Finland, Great Britain, and the Netherlands have been attributed to
neo-Nazis, as were antisemitic incidents at basketball games in Italy,
the Netherlands, and elsewhere.
RACIST POPULIST PARTIES
Germany
1. The Republican Party (in German, "Republikaner") is attempting to
exploit the widespread resentment against the immigrants and
asylum-seekers who have flooded the country. Its slogan: "Germany for
the Germans." Its leader, Franz Schoenhuber, was an SS officer who wrote
a best-seller entitled "I Was There". The party strives to present a
"respectable" facade, and therefore avoids overtly antisemitic
pronouncements. Its information material, however, contains antisemitic
allusions. In an interview with Ha'aretz in 1992, Schoenhuber did say
that he has nothing against Jews and admires the State of Israel. He
also claimed that he did not witness the annihilation of Jews during his
military service and did not know of such actions until the end of the
war.
2. Thus far, the Republikaner have not succeeded in securing a stable
position in the political arena. Its fortunes have known sharp ups and
downs. In 1989, it obtained 8 percent of the vote in elections to the
Berlin Senate and the European Parliament. In 1990, in elections for the
first post-reunification Federal Parliament, the Republikaner received
only 2 percent of the vote and failed to cross the electoral threshold.
In 1992, however, the party recorded several successes: 10.9 percent of
the vote in elections in Baden-Wirttemburg state, and 8.3 percent of the
municipal vote in Berlin. The Republikaner are burdened by rivalry with
parties that belong to the neo-Nazi orbit, such as the German People's
Union. In 1992, in the elections in Schleswig-Holstein, the German
People's Union took 6.3 percent of the vote and the Republikaner only
1.2 percent. In Hamburg municipal elections in September 1993,
competition between the two parties caused both to fall below the
electoral threshold, although together they garnered 8 percent of the
vote. In municipal elections in Munich the same month, the Republikaner
received less than 3 percent of the vote.
In the meantime, after a protracted public debate involving the
country's two large parties (the Christian Democrats and the
Socialists), the Government of Germany decided to take far-reaching
action on the problem of seekers of political asylum, which has enflamed
public opinion and has been exploited by the far-Right. (In 1992,
roughly half a million persons entered Germany in search of political
asylum; under Paragraph 16 of the German Constitution, they were given
the status of "waiting for asylum," which entitled them to remain in
Germany as welfare recipients until their personal circumstances were
ascertained. The burden of proving each individual's eligibility for the
status of political refugee fell on the Prosecutor-General.) The
Republikaner claimed loudly that aliens were entering Germany under
false pretenses and enjoyed privileges at the expense of the public
treasury, at a time of soaring unemployment. In May 1993, the Bundestag
amended the Constitution by inserting a new clause, 16a, stating that
people from countries where normal and orderly conditions prevailed
would not be given asylum-seeker status unless they could prove that
they faced persecution in their countries of origin. The result will be
a sharp downturn in the number of asylum seekers. This removed a pretext
for public disgruntlement and deprived the Republikaner of an important
propaganda weapon. However, the Republikaner will be able to argue that
the constitutional amendment proved they had been right.
France
France is the home of the largest of the three European racist parties, Le
Pen's National Front. Its representatives chair the faction of right-wing
parties in the European Parliament.
In March 1993 elections, the National Front reasserted its strength as the
country's third-largest party by obtaining 13.9 percent of the vote
(compared with 8.8 percent in 1988 parliamentary elections, 14 percent in
the European Parliament elections in 1989, and 14 percent in district
elections in 1992). French elections are held in two rounds, and in this
year's second round all the other parties refrained, for various reasons,
from entering into local agreements with the National Front, which
consequently failed to gain any seats in Parliament. However, it is still
represented in district councils and municipalities, and has become a
regular and familiar player in the political system. Its campaign against
immigrants has succeeded, and the public has gotten the message. According
to a 1992 study by the National Council for Struggle against Racism,
Xenophobia, and Antisemitism in France, 21 percent of the French are
conscious of being racists and 39 percent tend to accept racist ideas. Only
35 percent of the respondents opposed or took exception to racism. A
recently enacted law sponsored by the Government of France set certain
limits on immigration, but some of its provisions have been declared
unconstitutional.
Le Pen's antisemitic beliefs were treated in two libel suits that he
initiated one against the representative committee of French Jewry
(CRIF), Jean Kahan, who had accused Le Pen of inciting racial hatred, and
the other against a Jew who had written that Le Pen was "the spiritual son
of Petain, Hitler, and Mussolini." Both of Le Pen's suits were dismissed,
and the National Front leader was dunned for court costs.
Austria
The nationalist-racist Freedom Party enjoys especially strong support. It
gained 16.6 percent of the vote in elections held in 1990, and pulled in
22.6 percent of the vote in Vienna municipal elections in 1992. With this
performance, the Freedom Party climbed to second place in the capital city,
passing the Christian-Democratic People's Party. The leader of the Freedom
Party, Joerg Heider, does not conceal his sympathy for various aspects of
the Nazi regime. One of his advisors is Andreas Moeltzer, who espouses the
Greater Germany doctrine and favors restoring the German-Austrian union.
Party activists frequently express antisemitic views and interact with
neo-Nazis. Heider initiated the presentation of a petition entitled "Austria
First," which demanded not only restrictions on the entry of immigrants but
various measures designed to curb the activities of foreign residents. The
petition did not attract the mass support that its sponsors had expected;
instead, it led to disagreements within the Party and the withdrawal of its
moderate wing. In June 1993, the Liberal International decided to expel the
Freedom Party.
In a 1992 poll in Austria, taken by the American Jewish Committee, 39
percent answered the question, "In the course of history, have the Jews done
much damage?" in the affirmative. Thirty percent agreed that "the Jews have
too much influence in world affairs," 27 percent agreed that "the Jews have
too much influence in Austria," and 19 percent agreed that "it would be
better for Austria if it had no Jews at all."
Austrian Chancellor Franz Vranitzky proclaimed during his visit to Jerusalem
that his country had to confront its own history and recognized the
existence of collective responsibility for crimes committed by Austrian
citizens. These remarks marked the crossing of a watershed as compared with
the previous official Austrian stance, i.e., that Austria bore no
responsibility for what happened during the war years, because in 1938, with
the Anschluss, it had ceased to exist as a state.
Belgium
In the 1991 elections, the racist, far-Right Flemish Bloc gained 6.6 percent
of the total vote and 10 percent of the Flemish vote. In Antwerp, the Bloc
garnered 26 percent of the vote and became the city's leading party. The
Bloc was founded in 1978 by the initiative and with the funding of Dutch SS
members. The Flemish Bloc is associated with the Belgian National Front
Party, a clearly Fascist grouping that operates in Francophone areas, and an
even more radical faction called Agir ("to act"). The death of King Baudouin
reawakened the controversy concerning Belgian unity, and this will probably
benefit the Flemish Bloc.
Police protection of Jewish sites: a salient indication of the essence of
antisemitic fears in public consciousness at this time is the routine
provision of police protection during services in synagogues and at Jewish
events in many Western European cities.
European Institutions
On June 23, 1993, the European Parliament took a resolution on the ascent of
racism in Europe and criminal attacks on Turkish citizens in Germany. The
preamble of the resolution noted that the Parliament was "shocked by the
upturn in racism xenophobia, and antisemitism." The resolution condemned
"all racist, xenophobic, and antisemitic actions" and included a call for
struggle against them.
On July 1, 1993, a group of members of the Parliamentary Assembly of the
Council of Europe issued a statement on racism, xenophobia, and intolerance.
The statement, sponsored by several Turkish parliamentarians, expressed
concern about "new forms of racism, xenophobia, and antisemitism."