Source
Question:
Certain circles
repeatedly argue that the emphasis on the Christian character of the
CDU includes an anti-Jewish tendency. Do you, Mr. Chancellor, wish
to make a statement on this question?
Answer:
In my first
government policy statement to the Bundestag, I emphasized on behalf
of the government and the political forces behind it that our work
will be carried by the spirit of Christian occidental culture and
respect for the law and human dignity. During the Hitler regime,
respect for human dignity was thoroughly destroyed. The devaluation
of human beings to objects of state purposes has been one of the
most frightening symptoms of that time. As Christians, we want to
restore respect for the human being without regard to confessional,
racial or ethnic affiliation. In the spirit of this tolerance, we
see in our Jewish compatriots fellow citizens with full rights. We
would like them to participate with equal rights and duties in the
spiritual, political, and social rebuilding of our country. We
cannot and do not wish to do so without their cooperation. Therein
we see the meaning of the term “Christian” in this context.
Question:
Do you believe,
Mr. Chancellor, that the measures taken against Germans after the
war, e.g., the expulsion from the eastern territories, can
compensate for the injustice done in the name of the German people
up to 1945? This view is widely held.
Answer:
Injustice and
suffering brought upon people can never be compensated for by
injustice or suffering brought upon other people. The German people
are willing to make reparation for the injustice perpetrated in
their name by a criminal regime against the Jews to the extent that
this is possible at all after millions of lives have been
irretrievably destroyed. We consider this reparation to be our duty.
Far too little has been done for this reparation since 1945. The
German government is determined to take the appropriate
measures.
Question:
For us,
reparation is not only an economic issue, but also a moral one. What
does the Federal Government intend to do to advance this process of
reparation?
Answer:
Moral reparation
is part of our reinstatement of the rule of law. The government will
be vigilant in ensuring compliance with the article of fundamental
rights that prohibits discriminating against anyone because of their
ancestry, race, or creed. I would like to make it absolutely clear
that the desecration of Jewish places of worship and the vandalizing
of Jewish cemeteries, which unfortunately have continued to occur in
recent years, will be prosecuted and punished without leniency. It
is the duty of the communities in particular, not only to protect
Jewish places of worship, but also, where necessary, to support
their rebuilding. I have already announced in my first government
policy statement that we will, if necessary, make determined use of
the rights that the law gives us against radical tendencies. We will
prosecute antisemitic tendencies in the press or in public life to
the full extent of the law if this proves necessary. We will fight
all forms of antisemitism not only because it is undesirable to us
in domestic and foreign policy, but because we reject it with all
firmness for reasons of humanity. In applying the fundamental rights
articles of the Basic Law, we are given all legal prerequisites to
put this will of ours into practice and to protect the Jews against
any discrimination. We will protect the Jews against any possibility
of new persecution.
The
government will devote its special attention to compensation for the
economic damage inflicted on Jewish citizens. The existing
legislation needs some improvement and supplementation in this
respect. The State of Israel is the outwardly recognizable union of
Jews of all nationalities. The government intends to make available
to the State of Israel goods for reconstruction worth DM 10 million,
as a first direct sign that the injustice inflicted by Germans on
Jews throughout the world must be
redressed.
The long
persecution of the Jews in Germany during the National Socialist
period gave rise to a number of problems about which the government
must be kept informed. A department headed by a German Jew will
therefore be set up in the Federal Ministry of the Interior to deal
with these problems. At the same time, the establishment of this
department is intended to give the Jews living in Germany the
assurance that everything is being done on the part of the
government to safeguard their political rights in this state to the
fullest extent.
Question:
The Jewish
victims of Nazi persecution, especially the relatives of Jews killed
in concentration camps, are observing with concern the tendency to
grant amnesty to the political elements responsible for this
extermination and to cease the prosecution of crimes against
humanity. Does the government intend to take steps in this
direction?
Response:
I have already
stated before the Bundestag that the government is of the opinion
that much harm and damage has been done by denazification, but that
those truly guilty of the crimes committed during the National
Socialist period and the war should be punished to the full extent
of the law. There has been no change in the government’s view on
this. Criminals guilty of the destruction of human life do not
deserve amnesty and will continue to face legal prosecution
commensurate with their crimes.
Source of original German text: Allgemeine Wochenzeitung der Juden, 25. November 1949.