Purely Commentary
Gravity of Conditions in
West Germany . . . Mounting
Threats from Neo-Nazism
By Philip
Slamovitz
Marine Hospitalman
Cited for Gallantry
Under Fire in Vietnam
Luxemburg were murdered Jan. 15, 1919. Even since then, the
Is Neo-Nazism Akin to the Hitler Patterns?
NEW YORK — For conspicuous
Judgments regarding the rise of neo-Nazism in Germany vary, Social Democrats have turned toward the right. The aims of the gallantry under fire in Vietnam,
and there are conflicting opinions about the effects of the recent party's conservative wing were well-intended; but the proportional during which he was wounded,
successes of the National Democratic Party (NPD) upon developing voting system and its politicking to which the German electorate was Hospitalman Philip L. Stern was
unaccustomed bore the seeds of its own destruction. During the years decorated by the U.S. Marine
conditions in Germany.
While many diplomats, including American spokesmen, belittle of the Weimar Republic the Social Democrats moved more and more Corps with a Silver Star Medal.
the recent NPD successes, there are others who view the situation to the right. Finally they started to lose ground to the newly emerging
The citation accompanying the
with grave concern.
Nazi Party. The Nazis had borrowed a number of the SPD's original medal presented to Hospitalman
social
theories
and
combined
them
with
an
illogical
hatred
for
Jews
Canadian Dimension magazine provided data that adds to the
Stern, whose home is in New
anxiety in an article by Peter Lust. He rejects Adolf von Thadden's and a fanatic nationalism which maintained that the Germans as a Brunswick, N.J., noted that on
denials that he and his NPD associates are anti-Semites. Also, he people were physically, mentally and morally superior to all other Feb. 6, the young corpsman's com-
revives the charge that West Germany's head of state, President breeds."
pany was maneuvering toward sus-
The situation is grave as Lust's conclusions indicate. Based on pected enemy positions in the vil-
Heinrich Luebke, also had Nazi associations.
In his lengthy resume of the existing conditions in the West a thorough study of conditions within Germany he states:
lage of Thanh Quit when the
"During the summer of 1967 a recession which had plagued the marines suddenly came under
German Federal Republic, Lust (his cousin was the late Giora Joseph-
. thal, who was a prominent Zionist leader in Germany and served in West German economy could develop into a long-drawn economic intense hostile small arms, auto-
the Israel Cabinet as minister of labor and immigration) reviews the drought. The business decline was particularly severe in the Ruhr matic weapons and mortar fire
valley, whose coal mines stood three-quarters idle. This situation and sustained several casualties.
NPD background as follows:
"During the first 17 years of West Germany's existence, very few developed partly because of the changeover of West German industry
"Disregarding his own safety,"
foreigners have realized that nazism had somehow managed to survive. from coal to oil — similar to that of other large industrial countries. says the citation, "Hospitalman
But
it
hit
the
Ruhr
valley
more
than
any
corresponding
geographic
Then suddenly last year, when a comparatively unknown party, the
Stern fearlessly moved across
"National Democrats," headed by wealthy Bremen concrete manu- area in other Western countries. The eclipse of the coal pits had
the fire-swept terrain and began
facturer Fritz Thielen and organized by a softspoken young politician always been part of the Ruhr's dilemma: But during March of 1967 rendering first aid to the wound-
named Adolf von Thadden, scored substantial gains in the Bavarian Krupp, armament manufacturers for both Imperial and Nazi Germany,
ed men. While treating a casual-
and Hessian provincial elections, the world was shocked. More than had experienced financial setbacks which would have resulted in the
ty, he was wounded in the ankle
7 per cent of Bavaria's Voters and almost 9 per cent of the Hessen total bankruptcy of the huge concern, if the Kiesinger government and became unable to walk.
electorate had endorsed a political group whose platform made had not quickly authorized emergency loans to tide the concern over.
Steadfastly refusing medical
the following demands. 1) return of the Czechoslovakian Sudetenland During the summer Alfried Krupp von Bohlen and Halbach, head of
treatment, he ignored his injury
at
the
age
of
60
under
somewhat
the
firm,
had
suddenly
died
to Germany, since it had been ceded to the Nazi Reich by a valid
and crawled about the hazardous
international treaty, 2) return to Germany of all territories lost at mysterious circumstances. The decline of the coal industry coupled
area, administering first aid to
the end of the Second World War, since this had been a war unjustly with the virtual collapse of the Krupp empire had heralded bread-
his comrades. When his unit
loosened against Germany by the allied war mongers Churchill, Roose- lines and a steadily growing number of unemployed in the Ruhr
was ordered to withdraw to a
velt and Stalin, 3) an end to all war crimes trials, 4) restitution pay- district and the end of the 'economic miracle' of the Federal Republic.
more defensible position, he as-
"The result was an upsurge of Neo-Nazi strength in the labor
ments afor alleged German war criminals unjustly tried and convicted,
sisted in evacuating the casual-
5) an immediate end to "allied lies" that 6,000,000 Jews had been gassed districts of Western Germany. The unemployed laborers of the Ruhr
ties and, utilizing a poncho,
during the war.—Von Thadden had denied that he was in fact a neo- distrusted Willy Brandt's Social Democrats, who would normally have
dragged a wounded man across
Nazi. I have never been a member of the Nazi party, he declared. been their most logical political choice. Kiesinger's Christian Demo-
the fire-swept terrain to a posi-
My party is not anti-Semitic and accepts Jewish members ! Both crats represented the power of capital and the huge cartels. They
tion of relative safety. Only after
statements were proven wrong: Von Thadden did join the Nazi Party felt that they had only one way, out: Neo-Nazism.
all casualties had been moved
during the week following his 18th birthday—the earliest time he
"It is frequently forgotten today that this was the way in which
to covered positions did he per-
could possibly have joined the old Nazi Party under its statutes. And Hitler rode to power."
mit himself to be evacuated.
If this final warning is really a correct evaluation of the existing
not a single Jewish name is contained in the National Democrats
"By his courage, sincere concern
membership list."
conditions in Germany then there is greater concern for worry now for the welfare of his comrades
Lust's article reviews the struggle for power in Germany and than there has been since the defeat of the Hitler armies. But the and steadfast devotion to duty in
shows how those accused of having been associated with Nazis in the West does not take any of these warnings seriously. On the contrary, the face of great personal danger
past but who fail completely to tow the mark to von Thadden's bidding we are led to believe that the Germans, in the West, as a power Hospitalman Stern upheld the
against the East, is valuable to the democratic forces. If these highest traditions of the Marine
now are anathema to the neo-Nazis. He states in his analyses:
"The Bremen election results indicate that the battle may well calming views prove false, a war that engulfed nearly the entire Corps and of the United States
globe may prove to have been fought in vain.
Naval Service."
be turning in favor of von Thadden's neo-Nazis, and that the NPD's
hopes of forming a West Germany government during the 1970s may
well come true.
The men most frequently attacked by the neo-Nazis are:
"Kurt Georg Kiesinger, now chancellor of West Germany, mem-
dren, grinding corn, baking, cook- with wrestling and writing. Packed
ber of the Nazi Party, and former liaison officer between the Nazi
"Beggar to King: All the Occu-
Foreign Office and the Propaganda Ministry. He was second in com- pations of Biblical Times" is a re- ing and engaging in other domes- into the long list are such occupa-
mand of a team working out of Hamburg's "Seehaus," in charge of markable collection of facts re- tic arts to provide for the needs tions as eunuchs, camel drivers,
supervising propaganda broadcasts beamed toward Great Britain. garding the various activities of of her family, she could also rise jailers, dancers, minstrels, pawn-
to position as prophetess, or as broker s, surveyors, stevedores,
"Dr. Gerhard Schroeder, now minister of West German defense. Jews in the biblical period.
He was foreign minister in chancellor Ludwig Erhard's cabinet.
In this volume, published by adviser to her husband and to snake charmers textile workers,
During the Hitler era Schroeder was a stormtrooper (member of the Doubleday, Walter Duckat, who has others. Women were also mid- spinners, etc., etc.
"S.A.") as well as a member of the Nazi Party..
Appendices describe the develop-
served on the faculties of Yeshiva wives, weavers, production work-
"Dr. Karl Schiller, Chancellor Kiesinger's minister of economics. University, Vassar, Brooklyn and ers, professional mourners, har- ments of various occupational ac-
Schiller has been a member of Willy Brandt's Social Democratic New York City Colleges, has gath- lots, singers. They engaged in tivities in olden times, those in
Party since the end of the war. Before 1945, however, Schiller was ered data about more than 200 business or in varied domestic commerce, labor, transportation,
closely tied in with the fortunes of the Nazis. A Nazi Party member occupations which are listed alpha- arts. The Jewish housewife us- the guilds. Duckat even shows how
since 1936, he also was a member of the stormtroop unit S.A. Dr. betically in this revealing study. ually did not engage in the ardu- strikes developed. He refers to a
ous chores related to agriculture. record in the Talmud about a strike
Schiller's university thesis which gained him the coveted title of Doctor
"Beggar to King" is not only
Nor are women known to have "by two families who exercised a
dealt with "Europe's economic awakening in the wake of our Fuehrer's
types
of
occu-
an accumulation of
been miners in biblical times. monopoly in the Temple."
splendid victory."
pations: it is a scholarly work
There were, however, shepher-
"Beggar to. King" is an informa-
"But the neo-Nazis' number one target became the Federal Repub- • that explains how the people
desses . . . "
tive and very revealing book that
whose labors are recorded in the
lic's head of state: President Heinrich Luebke. Before World War II,
The alphabetical list is a re- will provide interesting data while
Bible spent their waking hours.
Luebke had been involved in a minor financial scandal. A threatened
markable
anthological result of entertaining the reader about
Facts
in
both
the
Old
and
New
embezzlement action was withdrawn by the Nazi prosecutor in 1934.
Testaments are utilized in the Duckat's research work. He starts events in the nast that match
Luebke advanced in the Third Reich's civil service. During the Second
with accounting and concludes experiences in our own time.
presentation of this subject.
World War, he was entrusted with the construction of the concentra-
tration camp at Rehau in central Germany. Building plans and instruc-
The author points out: "Under-
tions dealing with the treatment of political prisoners bearing his standably, the authors of the Bible
signature were unearthed. But Luebke denied being "the same Heinrich were in,ainly concerned with reli-
Luebke who constructed Nazi concentration camps." However a team gious and ethical themes. Conse-
of unbiased Swiss handwriting experts wrote an opinion to the effect quently, their references to work
that German President Heinrich Luebke and former Nazi concentra- and occupations were usually brief
tion camp builder Heinrich Luebke were indeed one and the same and incidental. Also, written sources
man. President Luebke as official head of state was in a particularly generally describe the lives of
vulnerable position; the fury of arguments about him between the members of the upper classes and
neo-Nazis and the old Nazis (turned democrats) became very bitter. speak little of the average person.
" 'Who actually is more democratic: We German nationalists or Moreover, there are a number of
those Hitlerite Nazis who have suddenly become true and blue occupations which undoubtedly ex-
democrats?', read the headline of Dr. Frey's NATIONAL UND isted. in Bible times that are not
SOLDATENZEITUNG in early September. 'We nationalists are at expressly mentioned in the Bible,
least honest about the way we feel, but opportunists of the type of probably because they were so
Luebke and Kiesinger are traitors to Germany. We ask the German familiar that the biblical authors
voters to grant us their confidence and to turn away from turncoat saw no reason for mentioning
them."
Kiesinger.' . . .
He states that "many of the leg-
"The main losers in the grand coalition haye been Willy Brandt's
Social Democrats. The party had been founded more than a century islative portions of the Bible im-
ago by social revolutionaries and during the heyday of Imperial plicitly suggest that it is dealing
Germany the Social Democrats were extremists of the left. When two with an agricultural society."
SPD (Social Democratic) sympathizers (Hoedel and Nobiling) at-
Duckat also states that "a se-
tempted to assassinate emperor Wilhelm I (May 11 and June 2, 1878) quel to the specialization of labor
special laws were promulgated against the party; these laws remained was that eventually families em-
on the statute books until 1900 — but they proved ineffective. During ployed in the same craft formed
the election of 1877, 493,288 people had voted the SPD ticket; in clans that later grew into guilds."
41:&
1890 the party received 1,427,300 votes; in 1907 it had grown to
An interesting reference is
In front of an ancient Tora, Israel Social Welfare Minister Yosef
3,259,000, 29 per cent of the total vote.
made by Duckat to the women
Burg (left) and Andre Malraux, French minister of culture, open the
Germany's SPD had battled courageously against an entrenched
and to "the variations that ex-
"Israel Through the Ages" exhibition in Paris containing 100 art
military feudalism before the First World War. When after the 1918
isted between the status of the
treasures spanning about 8,000 years of Jewish history. Most of the
revolution they seized power and proceeded to establish what was to Jewish woman and that of other
archaeological relics, manuscripts and religious ornaments came from
become the Weimar Republic, a power struggle ensued between the
peoples of antiquity." He asserts:
Israel. But many items were lent by the Louvre, private collectors
party's radical and moderate groups. The leaders of the leftist ex-
"She clearly enjoyed a higher
and by the Cluny Museum in Paris, whose collection of scrolls, lamps
tremists, Karl Liebknecht (son of the party's founder) and Rosa
status than that of most women
and embroidery has not been put on display for half a century. The
of the distant past. Though she
exhibit will run through the end of August in the Petit Palais on the
2 Friday, -June 28, 1968
THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS
worked hard rearing the chil-
bank of the Seine.
'Beggar to King's—Occupations in Bible Times
Exhibit of Jewish Art in Paris
—