2 Friday, April 20, 1979
THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS
Purely Commentary
Neo-Nazism's Rising Tide:
Serious Problem for Bonn
If there were the slightest doubt about the urgency of
extending the German Statute of Limitations, or of aban-
doning it, the proof is provided in the reports of a rising tide
of neo-Nazism.
It had been hoped that the memories of the Holocaust
would haunt all Germans into a desire to condemn the acts
of the past as to frighten the Hitler-worshipers into perma-
nent seclusion. Instead, there are new evidences of a re-
emerging anti-Semitism and a revival of the Nazi spirit.
Proof was provided a few days ago in a Reuters report
from Karlsruhe, West Germany. It merits quoting in full:
KARLSRUHE, West Germany (Reuters) — Six
young men were arrested today on suspicion of
belonging to an illegal neo-Nazi organization, the ._
federal prosecutor announced.
The arrests, the latest in a series of police ac-
tions against an upsurge of extreme right-wing
activity, took place in Schleswig-Holstein, the
northern state where five extremists were ar-
rested nine days ago. The names of the latest sus-
pects were not revealed.
Prosecutor Kurm Rebmann said two of the first
group had confessed that they were plotting to
abduct him and Willy Brandt, chairman of the
governing Social Democratic Party. Rebmann's
predecessor, Siegfried Buback, was murdered
two years ago by left-wing extremists.
These things are happening in spite of official West
German efforts to stem the tide, to punish the Nazis. to
prevent recurrence of the hatreds of the past. But even if, as
proven, the numbers of the neo-Nazis are minimal, their
activities are frightening.
After describing in great detail the gains made by the
anti-Semitic National Democratic Party (NDP) in the
enrollment of youth, the German Tribune, published in
Hamburg, an English-language periodical, carried a dis-
tressing report describing the new occurrences under the
title: "Neo-Nazis flex puny muscles, gain support among
jobless youngsters." In that analysis, the following is re-
vealed:
Few of them are likely to be dedicated, root-
and-branch neo-Nazis. Academics and
educationalists agree why lower socio-economic
groups are tending to glorify Hitler and the Third
Reich.
They are not unduly serious about identifying
themselves with Nazi ideology. Their passing
interest is mainly the result of juvenile unem-
ployment.
"Adolf did something about unemployment," a
trochee explained to Hamburg clergyman
Werner Jeschonowski some time ago.
It is certainly worth noting that these organ-
izations have succeeded in recruiting more than a
mere handful of young supporters since the mid-
70s," says Georg Hundt, deputy national chair-
man of the Jvngdemokraten, or youth section of
the Free Demo.'rats.
"Their mei lbership began to increase at a time
which coincic ► Ntl to an alarming degree with the
onset of juvenile unemployment."
Another interpretation of the apparent juvenile
Nazi renaissance was made at a conference of
youth groups in Gauting, near Munich. Gerhard
Paul of the Vokshochschulverband, an associa-
tion of municipal further education centers, put
the point.
The generation of young people now aged 18, he
said, consciously regard banned Nazi symbols as
parapolitical protest symbols against a humiliat-
ing social environment, lack of prospects and feel-
ings of having been left to their own devices.
This is why youngsters whose knowledge of his-
tory is based on pulp magazines think nothing of
donning black shirts and going on the rampage
against everything they feel is to blame for their
humble role in society.
In groups misled by pocket fuhrers like Roeder,
Hoffmann or Rohwer they feel powerful for once
but merely have the wool pulled over their uncrit-
ical eyes.
They have even been persuaded to put on don-
key's masks and parade placards proclaiming:
"And I am a donkey (fool) enough still to believe
Jews were sent to the gas chamber in Auschwitz."
The groundwork is laid by calls for a strongman
in times of crises and also, says Maria Kopper-
nagel of the Catholic Youth League, by the "un-
inhibited merchandising of literature glorfying
war and either revelling in National Socialism or
claiming it was harmless."
The government's white paper on political ex-
tremism confirms an unprecedented increase in
By Philip
Slomovitz
Neo-Nazism on the Rise . . . West German Authorities
as Dismayed as Libertarians Over Emerging Spirit of
Hitlerism Among Youth . . . Philosophic Power View
the circulation of brochures seeking to justify
whatever the Nazis are admitted to have done. It
is a challenge to the educational system, Hanover
youth research specialist Walter Jaide concludes
from a poll of 5,000 senior school and trades col-
lege students.
Fifteen percent show scant understanding of
"cumbersome and intractable democratic solu-
tions."
There is a widespread belief that the country's
political problems can best be solved by tough
determined action by strong leaders.
Jaide feels this failure to appreciate (and naive
view of) democratic rules and risks is the crux of
the problem.
Of course, officially these resorts to terror are disap-
proved. Of course, the West German government does what
is plausible to counteract the neo-Nazi plans to revive Hit-
lerism. Of course, Bonn would undermine the growing dan-
gers. Perhaps outlawing the emerging revivers of hatred
and brutalities is not enough. There is need for fearless
condemnation of the aim to recreate the insanities which
resulted in more than 11,000,000 mass murders of innocent
people on orders from Adolf Hitler and his demented asso-
ciates.
The growing spirit of hatreds in Germany is apparent.
It is not a mass movement. It wasn't in the early years of
Hitlerism. Therefore, government action in West Germany
will have to be more firm, even if it will appear less demo-
cratic, and the statute of limitations must be abandoned if
Nazi criminals are not to go free and those inbibing their
spirit are not to be encouraged in their planned revival of
brutalities.
,
The Aspiration to Power,
the Cruelty of Domination
Asked by a reader to define in 25 words or less "what's
happening in the world," the popular columnist Sidney
Harris responded with this bit of wisdom:
"The strong get stronger until they collapse; the weak
get weaker until they rebel; then they change places and
repeat the process."
Then came analyses of power, of domination by those
who would exercise authority. The many groups Harris
drew upon to explain his theory included the Jews and
about their role he wrote:
"The Jews in Israel show as little regard for displaced
Palestinians as the Gentile world did for displaced Jews."
Is this true? Not quite. The fact is that Arabs live well
in Israel, and Arabs as well as Jews in that area are Pales-
tinians, if they lived in Israel or its environs before Israel's
statehood. There are frequent discrepancies, but it is unfair
to accuse Israel of injustice towards any element in its
population, Christian or Moslem.
There is greater discrimination by Orthodox towards
secularists and Conservative and Reform Jews, on reli-
gious grounds, than against non-Jews in Israel. This is
what needs correcting. If Harris had said that Neturei
Karta and their ilk could be more prejudiced and dis-
criminating against Jews, more than others in Israel, he
would be correct.
This is because of the intolerance of these extremists.
In that respect there would be another good definition for
power in the interesting Harris essay.
`On the Wings of an Eagle':
El Al's 30th Anniversary
There is a sense of pride in the Israeli achievements
which include not only state-building but also the progress
in industry and science as well as in education and histori-
cal research.
There is an important chapter also linked to aeronau-
tics and the Israel airline fits in well into the record of
scientific attainments in Israel.
The state's 31st anniversary also marks the 30th an-
niversary of its airline, prominent and popular as El Al.
Understandably, its beginnings were minute. The first
scheduled commercial flights were to Rome and Paris and
they began on July 31, 1949. World War II leftover planes
were used at that time. The growth is a matter of record.
Jets replaced the old crates. In 1961, another record was
established by introducing the world's longest non-stop
scheduled commercial route, 5600 miles from New York to
Tel Aviv.
In this 30th anniversary year, the scheduled El Al
flights now connect Israel to four continents. ThP non-stop
flights from New York to Tel Aviv remain El Al's exclusive
aerial triumph. Now El Al is inaugurating the routes from
Miami and Chicago to' Israel.
The progress of El Al is immense. Its achievements are
Israel's, to - be taken pride in by world Jewry. Happy an-
niversary, El Al.
Kibutzim Give Elderly a Sense of Worth
By RUTH SELIGMAN
World Zionist
Press Service
JERUSALEM — As a
young country whose social
orientation is geared to
youth and the future, Israel
may have been slower than
some other societies to rec-
ognize and meet the needs of
the aged in its midst.
If this is true of Israeli
society as a whole, it was
even more pronounced in
the early days of the kibutz,
whose founders were all
youngsters. Their values
hardly related to a time
when a substantial number
of them would be old, with
all that this involves. They
were building not only a
new society but also an es-
sentially young society.
In brief, many practical
problems connected with
growing old exist even in
the relatively caring and
protective environment of
the kibutz. "The situation
was not eased," said one
kibutznick, "by our refusal
to see that a large percen-
tage of us were growing old
at the same time. We'd been
a homogeneous group of
idealistic youngsters when
we founded our settlement.
And suddenly — almost
overnight it seemed — we
were all past our prime."
Statistics bear out his con-
tention.
Whereas in 1970 mem-
bers 65 and over consti-
tuted only 4.3 percent of
the population of the vet-
eran settlements (those
founded before 1930), in
1980 the figure is ex-
pected to reach 15.4 per-
cent. And in these settle-
ments in a very few years
those over 60 may reach
30 to 40 percent of the
total population. Even in
intermediate settlements
(those founded between
1930 and 1940) where in
1970 the over-65s consti-
tuted only 1 percent of
the population, the figure
is expected to reach al-
most 10 percent by 1980
and then stabilize around
15 percent.
Veteran settlers have de-
fined the problems of their
aged as falling into the fol-
lowing categories:
• Psychological: How to
give the aged member the
status, honor and prestige
he had when he was
younger.
• Physical: How to care
for those whose failing
health and infirmities re-
quire special attention.
• Vocational: How to
provide a work structure
'suitable for the capabilities
of the aged.
• Recreational: How to
provide
meaningful
leisure-time activities.
These problems were
thoroughly discussed only
in the late 1960s. Before
then, it seemed there just
weren't enough aged to jus-
tify special attention and
programming. If an aged
member was unable to take
care of himself, his family
usually tended to his needs.
In case of more dire need, a
kibutz might even hire a
private nurse for him.
Although slow to wake up
to the problem, it is to the
credit of the kibutz move-
ment that, once awakened,
it vigorously set about tak-
ing practical and realistic
steps to meet the needs of
the old.
As befitting a society
built on and around the
ethos of work, one of the
first systematic studies of
aging in the kibutz was
occupational in nature.
This was a booklet pub-
lished in 1968 by S.
Schacher surveying the
occupations and ac-
tivities of aged kibutz
members.
Results of this occupa-
tional research showed that
women members, aged 40 to
50, were being switched
from teaching and child-
care to services and that
men, 50 to 60, were being
transferred from agricul-
ture to light industry. Yet,
the research also showed
that many of the new occu-
pations were not tailored for
the aged and job dissatisfac-
tion, especially among the
females, was all too evident.
The kibutz is coming to
realize that more re-
training programs for its
aged are necessary if work
satisfaction at this age is
not automatically attained.
Occupational research
was followed by a study of
health services in the
kibutz, done in 1970 by D.
Atar. This research noted
the inadequacies in care of
the aged, and advocated the
establishment of intensive
care units (treatment
rooms) near the health
center of the kibutz, a com-
munal facility for the care of
those aged not able to re-
main in their rooms. As
more and more kibutziin are
building such units, it is ob-
vious that the treatment
room is now an accepted
concept.
Special courses for
training personnel to
work with the chroni-
cally ill and aged is alt
an innovation whit
answers the question:
whcf will care for the aged
when they cannot care
for themselves. But space
limitations prevent a
comprehensive review of
all the changes which
have occured in the
kibutz in the last decade
as regards their aged.
New ideas are continu-
ally being proposed. One
kibutz is advocating "mixed
housing." And Meron Go-
lan, a relatively new kibutz
located in the Golan
Heights, has suggested that
new kibutzim also include a
"garin" (nucleus) of older
people.
',