Prinz-Knappstein Brandeis Dialogue on Germany
Brings to Light Complaints, Bonn. Reconciliation Aims
WALTHAM, Mass.—The silence
of the German people in the face
of injustice inflicted on the Jews
during the early years of the Nazi
regime is the "great difficulty" in
establishing a new relationship be-
tween Germany and the Jews,
Rabbi Joachim Prinz, president of
the American Jewish Congress,
said at Brandeis University during
a public dialogue with West Ger-
man Ambassador Heinrich Knapp-
stein.
Dr. Knappstein, who said his
countrymen are ready "to bear our
share of collective shame" for
what transpired, explained what is
being done to bring the Germans
and the Jews together. He ap-
pealed for recognition and en-
couragement for these efforts.
Dr. Prinz and Dr. Knappstein
appeared at the university in what
Dr. Prinz described as the first
and long overdue dialogue about
the basic issues of the relationship
between the Germans and the
Jews.
The memory of the Jewish
people is not so much the "mem-
ory of mass murder," said Dr.
Prinz, but of what happened dur-
ing the advent of Hitler, from 1933
until 1938, the year of mass de-
portations.
"... So much happened within
the sight and hearing of the en-
tire German people that none of
them has the right to say he did
not know," Dr. Prinz said. "Did
they not see their neighbors ar-
rested? Did they not in the
month of November of 1938 see
the synagogues in their home
towns go up in flames. . . .?"
Although some German families
were sympathetic and even helped
the Jews, said Dr. Prinz," the
German people were silent. There
was no march on Berlin in the face
of injustice as there was a march
on Washington in the face of in-
equality. What must be said in
utter frankness is not only the
Jews but the entire world has the
right to accuse the German people
--at least the people who lived
from 1933 to 1945—of failure to
bear witness to the most important
characteristic of a democratic
people: civic courage. It is not
merely that the Germans are
hated; it is that they are distrusted,
for they did not move a finger to
rid themselves of a regime of mur-
der, brutality and injustice. The
Jews have a right to distrust them."
Dr. Knappstein said he was
aware "it is not easy for you to
listen to me as it is not easy for
me to talk to you." As a repre-
sentative of German y, Dr.
Knappstein said, "I feel the
heavy burden which history has
placed upon all Germans, even
upon those who had never any-
thing to do with National Social-
ism or the Nazi regime."
The loss of six million human
lives, he said, is a fact that over-
shadows all relations between
the Germans and the Jews. "It
is like a river of blood which
separates the two peoples from
each other. But the mutual ties
of culture and life between Jews
and Germans have, through the
centuries, been too close for the
two to be separated forever."
He quoted West Germany's first
postwar president, Theodor
Heuss, to the effect that the con-
cept of collective guilt for all
Germans for the "horrible crimes"
committed must be rejected be-
cause the guilt lies with the indi-
viduals who have committed them.
But the Germans, Heuss said, had
to bear the collective shame for
them.
"Everyone of us is ready to bear
our share of collective shame for
what happened in Germany be-
tween 1933 and 1945," Dr. Knapp-
stein said. "Even though we do not
feel guilty for the crimes commit-
ted, we feel responsible for what
has happened, and this has certain
consequences for us."
His country has made great
efforts to assure that justice is
done for the victims of those
crimes, he said. Until" now, $7
billion has been paid to them or
•
their heirs, and $4 billion more
will be paid.
"This is a considerable amount
of money and is surely more
than a token recompensation,"
Dr. Knappstein said. "But it
would be utterly wrong to as-
sume that by paying these resti-
tutions and recompensations that
the Germans wanted to pay off
a debt of blood. That debt can
never be paid in money."
The government has also, he
said, instituted a program of edu-
cation and information for school
children an recent. German his-
tory, including the Nazi period.
Another program, Dr. Knappstein
said, informs German youth about
the contributions Jews have made
to German culture and German
life.
Dr. Knappstein said: Germany
has attempted to "clean our own
house." The "denazification" un-
dertaken after the war, he said,
"imperfect as it was, still was use-
ful in screening a large number
of Germans and in removing the
active Nazis from positions of
importance."
Dr. Knappstein said he is often
asked why so many former Nazis
remain in office. The German
government, he said, took a " real-
istic approach" and distinguished
betWeen the fanatical Nazis, and
those who joined the party "be-
cause of the pressure typical of
every totalitarian regime" and
who never furthered the Nazi
cause or committed crimes in its
name.
Since Germany began prosecut-
ing Nazi criminals under its own
penal code in 1949, he said, 61,000
persons have been tried, and 6,100
sentenced — some to the death
penalty. An agency was established
in 1958 to find still unknown crimi
nals or those in hiding. The statute
of limitations for war crimes was
extended last year to 1970.
Dr. Prinz applauded Ger-
many's efforts to create a new
democratic government, to ini-
tiate war crimes prosecutions for
Nazi crimes and for its policies
of restitution to the victims, or
to Israel and Jewish organiza-
tions.
Nonetheless, he warned, there
are "disturbing signs of a new
nationalism arising in Germany
today. A totalitarian and anti-
Semitic, neo-Nazi paper is current-
ly the second largest weekly in
Germany. Other signs indicate a
rise in German jingoism. This de-.
velopment must be watched by the
whole world, and above all by the
Germans themselves." _
The discussion at Brandeis, said
Dr. Prinz, would have been "ut-
terly impossible" had not Germany
embarked on its program of in-
demnification.
Dr. Prinz also said the impor-
tance of the establishment of dip-
lomatic relations between Ger-
many and Israel cannot be "over-
estimated, for it carries within it
the possibility of becoming the
turning point in the German-
Jewish relationship."
In conclusion, Dr. Knappstein
said "I know very well that due to
the events in Nazi Germany, we
are still far from the - goal of
brotherly reconciliation. Many
more steps have to be taken, but
we should not ignore the many
steps which have already been
taken.
"They need recognition and en-
couragement and the great goal is
worth the greatest efforts.
"Let me say what my colleague
said with regard to Israel: we have
had a sad past between us, the
Germans and the Jews, but we also
have a bright future together in
all fields of life. In the brother-
hood of human beings, we are,
after all, the sons and daughters
of one and the same father."
Eban Brings Good Message From LBJ
JERUSALEM (JTA)—President
Johnson told Foreign Minister
Abba Eban in Washington that as
long as he was President, Israel
does not need to fear for existence.
This was reported by the Foreign
Ministry upon the return of Eban
from his first visit as Foreign
Minister to the United States,
Canada, Britain and France. Offi-
cial sources here said the results
of the talks were a confirmation
of Israel's close and friendly links
with those nations.
Middle East experts reported
that Eban's tour of western capi-
tals has been getting considerable
attention in the Arab countries.
They said Arab attention has been
focused particularly on Eban's dis-
cussion of the possibility of the
Soviet Union duplicating in the
Middle East its successful media-
tion in Tashkent of the India-
Pakistan dispute.
The press in Arab countries has
taken this to mean that Eban
hopes for a Tashkent-style initia-
tive for peace in the Middle East,
the experts reported. A Cairo radio
commentator rejected this pros-
pect as "impossible" on grounds
that the Soviet Union would not
agree to "a design" which would be
"perpetuating the imperialist base
called Israel." The Lebanese news-
paper, Al Hayat, commented on
Eban's "flexible realism" and
welcomed it.
* * *
JERUSALEM (JTA) — A promi-
nent Soviet diplomat stationed in
Israel declared in a public lecture
here that the "Tashkent spirit"
could exert a most important in-
fluence on Arab-Israeli relations
and possibly bring about a solu-
tion to the Middle East deadlock.
The comment by Ivan Dadiole,
first counsellor in the Soviet Em-
bassy, was the fir s t recorded
Soviet hint that Russia might want
to influence the Middle East con
flict in the direction of a peaceful
solution. The Embassy official
stressed the role the Soviet Union
has had in solving past conflicts
and hinted broadly that this effort
could apply also in the Middle
East.
Foreign ministry officials were
studying the diplomat's remarks
which were described as "inter-
esting" but they added they were
not ready to comment officially.
Austrian Students Hit Collaborator's Acquittal
VIENNA (JTA)—The acquittal
by a Salzburg jury of two Nazi
collaborators on charges of mass
murder of Jews in occupied Pol-
and touched off student protest
demonstrations here last weekend
and stinging editorial denuncia-
tions.
The target of the criticisms was
the jury which last week found
that Johann Maurer, 52, and his
brother, Wilhelm, 48, had partici-
pated in mass shooting of Jews in
the S'tanislavov ghetto in 1941, but
that they had acted under "irresis-
tible coercion," and were there-
fore not responsible.
The judge immediately announc-
ed he could not accept this find-
ing, which was tantamount to ac-
quittal and which he said totally
disregarded the evidence given by
200 survivors as witnesses. He or-
dered the case referred to the
Supreme Court for review.
The Salzburg Senate immediate-
ly acted to suspend the verdict. A
number of survivors gave eye-
witness testimony that the Maurer
brothers had killed Jews in Stanis-
lavov. Witnesses had been brought
from several countries, including
Pre-Colombian Art Is
Israel.
Key to Ancient Disease,
The organization of Jewish
Professor Believes
Youth of Austria registered a pro-
NEW YORK—Dr. Abner I. Weis- test Wednesday with Justice Minis-
man, clinical professor of obstet- ter Christian Broda against the
rics and gynecology at New York acquittal of the two brothers.
Medical College, led a g r o up of
specialists conducting a unique
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these statues are really "teaching
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the ailments of pre - Colombian
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Suggests Elimination
From Catholic Liturgy
of Offensive Passages
NEW ROCHELLE, N. Y. (JTA)
— The Catholic Church should
make further changes in liturgy
to eliminate readings which either
hurt or offend Jews, a Jesuit
priest told a Catholic-Jewish con-
ference here.
The Rev. Walter M. Abbott,
associate editor of America, the
Jesuit weekly, mentioned as an
example that when Pope Paul
VI visited the United States last
October, millions of Americans
including Jews, watching the
Pope's New York appearance,
"gasped" when a seminarian
read a passage from John that
referred to the disciples "gath-
ered together for fear of the
Jews."
Father Abbott said though many
watchers assumed that the Pope
had chosen the passage, "it was
the long-established reading
printed in the missal for the mass
of peace." He added that apparent-
ly neither the Pope nor anyone
else officiating at the mass thought
of the effect "when this established
text would be read out in the
world's Jewish capital."
Sponsors of the conference were
Iona College, College of New
Rochelle and the Anti-Defamation
League of Bnai Brith. The audience
of 200 included priests, nuns, bro-
thers and Catholic and Jewish lay
listeners.
THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS
Friday, February 25, 1966-11
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