Is Bonn Ending Penance at Israel's Expense?
$75,000,000 in capital goods and
services. The reparations agree-
The key word in future relations ment was followed by an economic
between West Germany and Israel agreement was followed by an
is "normalization." It is a nice economic agreement which as-
sounding word. But in this particu- sured Israel substantial West
lar context it has unpleasant con- German aid. The amount of the
aid, the terms of interest and
notations for Israel.
West Germans relations with the conditions of repayment were
Israel have not been normal for more generous to Israel than to
the past 20 years but something any other country receiving eco-
very special. The Germans assum- nomic assistance from West Ger-
ed an obligation toward the Jew- many. In 1966 and 1967 it came to
ish state when it was created. It about $40,000,000; in 1968 and 1969
arose from the Nazi past and from it was down to $35,000,000, but
the fact that Israel absorbed still more than Bonn gave any
most of the survivors of the Holo- other single nation. In addition to
caust. The Germans were aware the money, the Adenauer regime
that Israel's existence has been in concluded arms sale agreement
joepardy from the start owing to with Israel.
Israel enjoyed its privileged
Arab hatred. The new Germany,
status with West Germany dur-
of all nations, could not stand by
ing
the regime of Chancellor
and see Jews annihilated for a sec-
Kurt Georg Kiesinger, a man
ond time in a generation.
whose
honest personal record
In 1953, the Bonn-Israel repara-
tions pact was concluded under was marred by the fact that he
was once a Nazi. Ironically,
then Chancellor Konrad Adenauer,
that status appears to have come
providing Israel with some
to an end as the reins of govern-
ment shifted from Kiesinger to
By ALFRED WOLFMANN
(Copyright 1970. JTA, Inc.)
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3 Brothers, All Rabbis,
Set Up Fund at Seminary
NEW YORK (JTA) — Three
Chancellor Willy Brandt, a for-
! mer underground fighter against
Hitler whose anti-Nazi creden-
tials are unimpeachable.
Since the new government took
office, the word "normalization"
has cropped up more and more
frequently in connection with Bonn-
Israel relations. In a recent inter-
view this writer had with the new
foreign minister, Walter Scheel,
"normalization" was stressed. Herr
Scheel said he was pleased that
Germany's former obligations to-
ward Israel have been replaced by
"normal" cooperation between the
two countries. In diplomatic lan-
guage, this means that Germany
considers its obligation toward Is-
rael fully discharged. "Normality"
here is a synonym for neutrality
or, as an American diplomat put
it not long ago, to the consterna-
tion of Israel, "even-handedness"
between Israel and its Arab foes.
The Arabs could not have expect-
ed more. Most Arab regimes sev- ,
ered diplomatic relations with
Bonn when it established diploma-
tic ties with Israel in 1965. The
Arabs long ago gave up any hopes
that West Germany would break
off relations with Israel. What the
Arabs wanted, and what, presum-
ably, they have gotten, is an end
to Israel's privileged status with
the Germans.
Herr Scheel was not prepared to
answer my question as to whether
German public opinion still sym-
pathizes with Israel, as it did dur-
ing and right after the Six-Day
War. Obviously, German public
opinion is still pro-Israel and ob-
viously the German Foreign Minis-
' ter was reluctant to say so for fear
of offending the Arabs.
brothers, all Orthodox rabbis, have
established an endowment fund to
provide partial scholarships for
needy students at their alma mater,
the Yeshiva Torah Vodaath and
Mesivta of Brooklyn, considered
the world's largest Orthodox semi-
nary.
The rabbis—Bernard Weinberger
of Yonug Israel of Brooklyn, Philip
M. Weinberger of Congregation
Anshei Shalom of New Rochelle,
N.Y., and Solomon Weinberger of
Congregation Tifereth Israel of
Passaic, N.J.—said the endowment
fund was named in memory of
their father, Rabbi Joshua Wein-
berger. The three brothers launched
the fund with personal contribu-
tions totalling $5,000. Proceeds of
the fund will provide about half
of the annual tuition for a student
at the Orthodox school through
its high school level.
Rabbi Bernard Weinberger ex- t
plained that he and his brothers
decided on such a fund in reccl-
lection of the fact that their father,
who served as a rabbi on the lower
East Side of Manhattan and later
in the Bronx, had been too poor
to pay full tuition fees when the
three sons attended the yeshiva.
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The new German government
has made it clear that it wants
a rapprochement with the Arabs,
though, it insists, not at the ex-
pense of Israel. More ominous,
from the Israeli point of view, is
Brandt-Scheel government's stat-
ed desire to improve relations
with the Soviet Union, East Ger-
many and Poland. Bonn is pre-
pared to make far-reaching coa-
cessions to do this. It wants to
avoid giving the impression of
close ties with Israel, especially
to Moscow and those East Euro-
pean countries which see Israel
as the arch villain in the Middle
East. It is careful not to offend
East Europeans on the touchy
question of the treatment of Jews
in the Communist bloc nations.
At a recent press conference,
Chancellor Brandt twice refused
to answer questions about anti-
Semitic purges in Poland.
it is apparent that it will reduced
sharply and will have to be strenu-
ously baragined for. Israel's for-
mer ambassador to Bonn, Asher
Ben Nathan, encountered difficul-
ties on that question. His succes-
sor, Elyashiv Ben Chorin, is ex-
pected to have a tougher time.
There is another motive behind
the "normalization." West Ger-
many's special relationship with
Israel was regarded by German
leaders as a sort of penance for
12—Friday, February 6, 1970
THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS
AK IVA
Hebrew Day School
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DETROIT SYMPHONY
CONCERT
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the Nazi slaughter. But how long
can a nation do penance? Is 20
years long enough? Chancellor
Brandt certainly thinks so. When
he visited New York 18 months
ago, as the West German Foreign
Minister, he declared, "Twenty
years are enough!" Germany
wants to forget its Nazi past but
its special ties to Israel have been
a constant reminder.
No one can fault Germany for
wanting to improve its relations
with the Communist bloc, and even
with the Arabs. The cause for
alarm lies in the intimations of
appeasement at Israel's expense
which seem to be growing stronger
every day.
Ounce of prevention: The March
of Dimes reports that many physi-
cal and mental disabilities due to
birth defects can now be com-
pletely corrected or reduced in
severity if they are detected early
and treated promptly.
Mischa Mischakoff
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