AN AMERICAN JEWISH – GERMAN INFORMATION & OPINION NEWSLETTER dubowdigest@optonline.net

AMERICAN EDITION

October 29, 2011

Dear Friends:

The big news coming out of Germany in the last little while has mostly concerned itself with the debt bailout agreements which resulted in the temporary saving of the Euro. During this period no one had any energy left to deal with such piddling matters as Middle East peace. However, the Quartet (including Germany) is still trying to get both sides back to the bargaining table – so far without success.

The Brussels bailout does have important implications for German politics so I’ve touched on that below.

In addition, you will find this edition of DD a little different than those in the past. It includes an essay by a Northwestern University professor about her personal confrontation with Germany. Read it. You’ll be moved.

With Halloween almost upon us I’ve also included a piece about a Catholic Bishop who is a real live creep. If his face doesn’t scare children it certainly scares me.

Enough… On to the news.

IN THIS EDITION

MIGHTY MERKEL – The Chancellor shows them how to do it. A real champ!

MIGHTY GERMANY? – How muscular should it be?

THE PRICE OF FAME – The Pirates get the “under the microscope” treatment.

DUBOW DIGEST GOES LITERARY: A TOUCHING STORY – Read it!

1

THE RIGHT WING IN A NATION OF LAWS – It’s tough to have to follow the law.

BISHOP RICHARD WILLIAMSON: REDUX - My least favorite Bishop.

THE SUBS: AGAIN – Underwater with political intrigue.

MIGHTY MERKEL

If you are a regular reader of DuBow Digest you know that I have said many times that in my opinion German Chancellor Angela Merkel is not only a quality leader but, in addition, a great politician. She knows what she wants to get done and knows how to go about doing it.

The saving, at least for the moment, of the Euro and maybe the European Union itself the other day in Brussels came about because of her skill and efforts. First, by taking a chance and letting the entire Bundestag vote on a financial bailout package instead of just having it passed by merely the Finance Committee, she succeeded with an overwhelming victory. She carried that to Brussels and won over the Europeans who now seem poised to actually do something to reign in the possible disaster that a financial meltdown could have caused.

Spiegel On-Line got it right by saying, “With Thursday's decisions in Brussels, Europe has made good progress towards saving the euro. This is in large part due to the work of the German chancellor. Angela Merkel's approach -- to decelerate rather than succumb to panic -- is starting to pay off.

If it's true that maintaining power is a politician's ultimate goal, then Angela Merkel came a good step closer to fulfilling that aim last night. The deal in Brussels was first and foremost a success for the German chancellor. She managed to get her way on a number of key issues and, with a little luck; Europe may now be on the right path towards overcoming the debt crisis.

Things could still go wrong, of course. The bailout process is far from complete. But for the first time now there is some clarity amid Greece's debt chaos. Merkel would appear to have learned in recent months. She has transformed herself from a leader merely reacting to events into one who now designs steps to control those events. She has also built up trust, which could ultimately pay out in the form of votes.

Merkel took great care in preparing the demolition of a ramshackle house. But she resisted the temptation to push the detonator immediately. Now, the explosion will be a controlled one. Those in its immediate path have been provided with a minimum of safety equipment and a firewall has been erected to contain the rubble.

…back in Germany, Merkel has reduced the role of the opposition parties in the euro rescue debate to that of extras. Be it the Social Democrats or the Greens, they will

2

merely rubber stamp whatever she hands to them.

Obviously, I have left out all the financial details of what was decided upon. They can better be read in The New York Times or some other journal that is better situated to report on economic and financial matters. What concerns us here is the strength and acumen shown by the Chancellor.

Though some Germans (many?) might be unhappy with Germany’s expanded financial exposure, the fact that the Euro remains intact has to rebound to the Chancellor’s positive political standing. Germany itself is now politically stronger than ever and that is something I deal with in the next piece below. It appeared before Merkel’s victory in Brussels.

MIGHTY GERMANY?

The Washington Post recently ran a story with the headline, In Europe: New Fears of German Might. It noted, “That worked for years. But time and circumstance are conspiring to put Germany in the driver’s seat. Continental powers including France and Italy have faded in influence, while inside Germany the long caution about being assertive has mostly worn out. The German flag, long regarded with suspicion even inside Germany as a symbol of nationalistic pride, now flutters more and more across the country.

Until now, Germany has occupied a middle ground — critics would say it has shirked leadership — in addressing the economic problems that have gripped Europe for the past two years. Amid crises in Greece, Ireland and Portugal, Germany has resisted picking up the bill, and it has not articulated a clear vision for how to avoid the problems in the future.

In the long run, though, experts say Merkel has little leeway to turn away from Europe, even though that course might be popular with some German voters.

For nearly a half-century after World War II, West Germany operated out of the limelight, content to be an industrial power while leaving the politics to France, which didn’t have the same legacy of using force to get its way. If West Germany wanted something to happen on the continent, it whispered to its Gallic neighbor and let the proposal be presented jointly. Even the location of the rump state’s capital, in sleepy Bonn near the border with Belgium, symbolized a European orientation.

But when the Berlin Wall fell in 1989, Germany, long split between rival Eastern and Western blocs, announced plans to reunite, raising fears that a powerful nation at the heart of Europe would once again tower over its weaker neighbors. As a condition of French consent to the reunification, French President Francois Mitterrand demanded a steep price: that Germany give up its cherished stable currency, the deutsche mark, and bind itself to a common currency, and by

3

extension to the broader tapestry of Europe.

That worked for years. But time and circumstance are conspiring to put Germany in the driver’s seat. Continental powers including France and Italy have faded in influence, while inside Germany the long caution about being assertive has mostly worn out. The German flag, long regarded with suspicion even inside Germany as a symbol of nationalistic pride, now flutters more and more across the country.

There is no question that the strength of the German economy carries with it political strength as well. Will that eventually lead to muscular nationalist type of strength as well? It’s a legitimate question. However, anyone that follows German politics understands that, if anything, Germany eschews the excesses of nationalism. Yes, appropriate nationalism is healthy but anything more is over the top. I’ve always thought that the total suppression of nationalism was not healthy. If they have a good national soccer team they should wave a flag. Don’t we?

The problem in Europe is that Germany has been pushed into a leadership position without really wanting it. They’re wealthier than everybody else. That sort of position carries with it responsibility. How they handle that responsibility will determine their future in the decades to come and, probably, the future of the rest of Europe as well.

To read the entire Washington Post story click here.http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/europe/in-europe-new-fears-of-german-might/2011/10/19/gIQA3baZ7L_story.html

THE PRICE OF FAME

We all know what happens when one obtains celebrity status. Not only do money and adulation usually come your way but, these days, also very close scrutiny. With every four year old knowing how to seek out information on the Internet, nothing anyone does goes without discovery.

The same thing goes for institutions and political parties. The Pirate Party, having gained some kind of public fame by scoring high in the Berlin state elections, was drawn immediately into the public limelight and therefore under its microscope as well.

The Local.de recently reported, “Germany’s upstart Pirate Party is fighting off accusations that right-wing extremists may have infiltrated its ranks, following reports that at least two prominent members once belonged to the far-right National Democratic Party.

Valentin Seipt, a Pirate Party district chairman in Freising, Bavaria resigned earlier this week after the accusation emerged. Matthias Bahner, who is a Pirate Party

4

district council member in Greifswald, Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania is still in his position, although the party has said it will discuss the issue this month.

The revelations are controversial because the NPD is widely seen as a racist party supporting extreme right-wing stances.

According to the Süddeutsche Zeitung newspaper, Seipt was an NPD member from at least 2007 to 2009 and was, for a time, a deputy district chairman for the NPD.

The 25-year-old told the newspaper that he had joined the group as an impressionable youngster and then struggled to break away. He said he was resigning from the Pirate leadership position in order to “prevent harm” to the party.

“The NPD’s structure is a cult and there is big pressure on the individual,” he told the newspaper. “These people were standing outside my door and threatened my friend.”

Bahner said he had joined the NPD in 2003 at 18, not realizing the ramifications. He called it a “youthful indiscretion.”

Michael Rudolph, the party’s leader in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, told Die Welt newspaper that members would discuss Bahner’s past at a meeting later this month. He said the party tries to give members a second chance after making mistakes”.

O.K. maybe it was a youthful indiscretion. However, as soon as this bit of news hit the headlines Der Spiegel reported, “Berlin's upstart Pirate Party, which sprang to prominence in September, is made up largely of men. Given the party's computer-nerd origins, that may come as no surprise. But critics are unconvinced by its "post-gender" politics and say the party will have to face the demographic dilemma if it wants to grow.

A long article followed about the Pirate Party’s newly appointed Political Director, Marina Weisband. The article refers to her as “A woman among men”. You can read the article by clicking here.http://www.spiegel.de/international/germany/0,1518,791006,00.html

Maybe the Pirate Party is just having growing pains. And, maybe it will mature into its new found celebrity status – or maybe it will implode and virtually disappear into non-importance. We’ll just have to wait and see. However, one thing is for sure. The scrutiny will continue. It’s not the kind of thing that goes away.

DUBOW DIGEST GOES LITERARY: A TOUCHING STORY

5

Through my good friend and AJC colleague Jon Levine, I was put in touch with Prof. Judith N. Levi of Northwestern University. Prof. Levi has written a yet-to-be-published book currently titled, Reconciliation Odyssey: A Jew Discovers a Different Germany.

I read passages. It touched me. I think it will do the same for you.

In explanation Prof. Levi writes, “My book is actually a thematic memoir that focuses on contemporary German-Jewish reconciliation, as I have experienced it personally and as it has manifested more generally in countless other German-Jewish encounters, especially in the last 20 years or so. It is therefore not a “Holocaust book,” it is not written by a descendant of “survivors” or specifically for survivors’ groups, and it does not provide yet another story of the suffering of earlier generations in Nazi Germany. Instead, it is a book that reports on the unexpectedly positive experiences in contemporary Germany of one US-born Jew (the daughter and granddaughter of German Jews), over a series of nine visits during which she learns in rich detail about the complex history of Jews in Germany (past and present), develops an expanding circle of German friends, and arrives at some major discoveries about the way in which her earlier anti-German prejudice was simply inconsistent with her own moral values and humanist perspective. My book also includes commentary on how my own experiences are just one specific variation on the much more universal themes of group identity, group conflict, and group reconciliation and how those are interrelated, as well as how they are likely to be relevant to readers from other backgrounds and family histories.”

Part of the book in essay form follows:

SPEAKING OF TEARS, FLAMES, AND LOVE

An abridged essay by Judith N. Levi <levifrommayen@comcast.net>

As a child, my favorite part of the children's magazine My Weekly Reader was a feature called "I used to think…,” in which children reported all kinds of naïve misconceptions they once had, but which they had since transcended. If I now assembled my own list, it would include all these:

o I used to think all Germans were contaminated in some way, just by being German.

o I used to think it was impossible for anyone to find any beauty in Germany.o I used to think my disdain for the Germans was morally unassailable.o I used to think that whatever the Germans suffered in WWII, they had it

coming.o I used to think my German-Jewish parents weren't German.o I used to think my family's history in Germany had nothing to do with me.

After many years, I changed. I had to. Visiting Germany made me change. Making German friends made me change. Being honest with myself made me change. This

6

is that story in a nutshell -- a story of goodness in the present, revealed in a context tainted by the evil of the past.

In 1997, I was astonished to learn that every year on November 9 – the anniversary of the Nazis' country-wide pogrom in 1938 that Americans call Kristallnacht but which Germans now call Reichspogromnacht -- townspeople in my father's hometown of Mayen, Germany, conduct a Silent Procession and an ecumenical memorial service. I immediately realized that I needed to witness this remarkable moral phenomenon with my own eyes. Soon, three of my closest relatives decided to join me on this family pilgrimage – timed for the 60th anniversary of this infamous Nazi assault on German Jewry.

Our pilgrimage brought us together for three days in Frankfurt-am-Main, where many in our family once lived; and three days in Mayen, where my grandfather Albert had served as the cantor, prayer leader, and de facto rabbi from 1910 to 1938. Upon arriving in Mayen, we first made private visits to the four sites of significance to Jewish history that would be the destinations of the Silent Procession the next evening: the site where the Mayen synagogue had once stood (until its destruction on Kristallnacht), the building that had housed the Jewish school where my grandfather taught and above which our family had lived, the Jewish cemetery, and a massive, basalt memorial sculpture commemorating the lost Jewish community of Mayen. At the former Jewish school – which I call "the Levi house" -- I leaned my forehead against its doorframe, seeking a quiet moment of communion. In physically connecting to that doorway through which my father and his family had walked thousands of times, I felt as if I were embracing my ancestors themselves, as if we had become united once again on some subtle plane that transcended the limitations of time, space, and death.

On the night of November 9, my family and I walked in respectful silence with some 120 Mayeners during their Silent Procession through the town, after which we all gathered for the memorial service. In the central part of the service, I addressed the audience in German. My tone was solemn, but reconciliatory. I began by saying; Tonight I want to speak of tears, of flames, and of love. And near the end, I explained, I came here today not because I was eager to remember the evil that was done here sixty years ago but because I was eager to witness the good that all of you are doing here today.

Because my experiences on this trip were so eye-opening and heart-expanding, I decided I had to write a book to share the inspiring story. (I'm now seeking a publisher for it.) I also became a frequent visitor to Germany. The Germans I now know include a retired pastor who translates Yiddish literature for German readers, an elderly couple who met in Israel as young volunteers from a group called Action Reconciliation and who eventually converted to Reform Judaism, a social worker who helped the Russian-Jewish immigrants living in Mayen since the 1990s to document their own unique history, and two men who have labored selflessly for years to document and preserve the history of Jews in their respective communities

7

through public exhibits, books, and even one magnificent website (www.hassia-judaica.de).

Although I grew up convinced that I had nothing to do with Germany and all that "Old Country" stuff, my nine trips to Germany have taught me how connected I am to that country and its people. I believe, however, that our most profound connection is not our German-ness, but rather our shared humanity. This very theme was serendipitously expressed during the 1998 memorial services in Mayen, when a Catholic priest concluded his sermon with this evocative parable:

In a Jewish legend, a rabbi asks his students, "When does the transition from night to day take place?" And the rabbi gave this answer: "When you look into the face of your fellow human being and you discover in it the face of your brother or your sister, then night has come to an end and day has dawned."

THE RIGHT WING IN A NATION OF LAWS

I don’t think there is a country that tries harder to wipe out its right wing extremists than does Germany. However, the neo-Nazis, etc. continue to popup and seemingly continue to prosper all too frequently, unhappily with the law on their side.

Recently The Local.de reported, “A person suspected of being associated with an alleged neo-Nazi group has bought a manor from the state of Thuringia, apparently breaking rules on selling state property to extremists.

It was sold earlier this year for about €320,000 to a woman who claimed she wanted to hold seminars there and rent the building to others.

But according to the website of Der Spiegel, no-one apparently noticed that she was also a known member of a group called Memorial, which claims to remember the German victims of World War II.

This group is widely considered a front for neo-Nazis and holocaust deniers. In a letter seen by the Thüringer Allgemeine newspaper, the group's head Wolfram Schiedewitz invites members to the manor and describes World War II as Germany’s “fight for existence.”

He declined to comment on the invitation but confirmed that the building would be a club meeting place.

Fabian Virchow, a specialist on extremists at the Düsseldorf University, said the purchase was part of a strategy “of the extreme right to build and strengthen their infrastructure.”

8

Because the club doesn’t officially own the manor, it has been able to skirt regulations banning the sale of government property to extremists, he told Spiegel

But because the sale was legal, it appears nothing can be done about it.

That’s too bad. However, Germany is a nation of laws so all that can be done by the Thuringia authorities is to keep a close watch on what goes on in the building – which I am sure they will do.

The Local also reported that, “Udo Voigt, chairman of the far-right National Democratic Party, is preparing to appeal to the German Federal Court of Justice (BGH) in Karlsruhe, after he was allegedly barred from a hotel for his political views.

Voigt's wife booked four days in the Hotel Esplanade in the eastern German spa town of Bad Saarow in December 2009, but the hotel refused to accept the booking, saying that Voigt's "political beliefs" meant that the hotel could not fulfill its aim of "providing every single guest with an excellent wellness experience."

Voigt's legal complaints have been unsuccessful so far, and according to a report on news magazine Der Spiegel's website on Sunday, he is planning to appeal to the BGH next Friday.

His lawyer countered the hotel's decision by saying that other guests could be disturbed by the presence of "black Africans, Muslims and severely disabled people."

But, Voigt's lawyer said, "in a free democracy, our citizens are expected to show tolerance that some people might consider an imposition." Otherwise a democratic society cannot function, "because there would be too many moves towards discrimination, and at the end we have a fractured society without solidarity."

The hotel's lawyer argued that Voigt was demanding "tolerance that neither he nor the NPD extend to others."

No one knows how the legal case will end. I have the sneaking suspicion that Voigt will win his case. Such is the price that must be paid for living in a democratic society. You don’t have to like the law shielding those who would undermine democracy but, frankly, it would be much worse if the situation was otherwise.

BISHOP RICHARD WILLIAMSON – REDUX

I thought we were done with the anti-Semitic Catholic Bishop Richard Williamson. However, like anti-Semitism itself, anti-Semites keep reappearing. The not so good Bishop is one of them.

9

According to JTA, “In his newsletter, Williamson wrote that “only the Jews were the primary agents of the deicide because Pontius Pilate would never have condemned Jesus if the Jews had not asked for blood.”

Williamson was found guilty of Holocaust denial in Germany in 2010 and fined about $14,000. He has previously denied the existence of gas chambers and the murder of 6 million Jews during the Holocaust.

In 2009, Pope Benedict XVI lifted the excommunication against Williamson, but the Vatican also reportedly declared that "in order to be admitted to episcopal functions within the Church, (he) will have to take his distance, in an absolutely unequivocal and public fashion, from his position on the Shoah, which the Holy Father was not aware of when the excommunication was lifted."

During meetings with Pope Benedict in Berlin last month, German Jewish leader Dieter Graumann said that one of the issues that troubled Jewish-Catholic relations was the Church's refusal to condemn Williamson.”

A group of European rabbis has called on the pope to condemn the latest anti-Semitic remarks by a Holocaust-denying Catholic bishop.

The Brussels-based Conference of European Rabbis slammed comments by Catholic Bishop Richard Williamson in which he allegedly blamed Jews for deicide. Williamson, a member of the radical Catholic Pius Brotherhood sect, reportedly made the comments in the latest issue of his newsletter, “The Eleison Comments." He has  been living in London.

“Comments like these take us back decades to the dark days before there was a meaningful and mutually respectful dialogue between Jews and Roman Catholics,” conference President Chief Rabbi Pinchas Goldschmidt of Moscow said in a statement issued Wednesday.

Goldschmidt called for the Church to "suspend negotiations with extremist Catholic tendencies until it is clear that these groups show a clear commitment to tackling anti-Semitism within their ranks."

How the Church and the Pope can stomach this character is beyond me. He was excommunicated and then un-excommunicated. He is a member of a very extreme right wing group in the Church that the Pope is obviously unwilling to go head to head with.

One thing I do know. He’d better not step foot back in Germany where Holocaust denial is a crime.

THE SUBS: AGAIN

10

In the last year or so I’ve reported on the importance of the submarines that Germany has been supplying to Israel and the role they play in watching Iran. It is over the purchase of a sixth sub about which a problem has arisen.

Recently The Local reported, “Germany is reconsidering its sale of a sixth submarine to Israel in the wake of new tensions over Jewish settlement construction, an Israeli newspaper reported on Wednesday.

The Yediot Aharonot said Berlin was rethinking the deal because of German frustration over Israel's decision to approve new settlement building in annexed east Jerusalem, which has raised tensions between the two countries.

The Israeli daily, citing unnamed "high-ranking officials," said the deal had been jeopardized by fraying relations between Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and German Chancellor Angela Merkel.

Merkel was reported to have strongly criticized the Israeli premier during a telephone call last month, saying she had "absolutely no understanding" of Israel's decision to increase settlement building in east Jerusalem.

Speaking to Israeli public radio on Wednesday, defence ministry director general Udi Shani declined to confirm or deny the reported problems with the submarine deal.

"It's a very complicated, very sensitive file that is under discussion. There are many parameters that have to be taken into account," he said.

There have been conflicting reports about whether Israel even wants to buy a sixth Dolphin-class submarine from Germany.

The Israeli navy currently has three Dolphin-class submarines, two of which were bought after the 1991 Gulf War. Two others are on order from Germany and being built at the Kiel shipyard. They are due for delivery in 2012.

Media reports have said the submarines can carry nuclear warheads and have an operating range of 4,500 kilometers.

In July 2010, the defence ministry denied that Israel was looking to purchase a sixth submarine, after media reports said Berlin had rejected an Israeli request for subsidies for the sale.”

Normally, I do not like to include stories that are unconfirmed without, at least, some sort of attribution or confirmation. Who knows if the Yediot Aharonot story is accurate or even true? However, the refusal by “defence ministry director general Udi Shani “ to confirm or deny it is troubling and makes it news.

11

It would not surprise me if some unnamed German government source had whispered something to an Israeli journalist. In the past, since it is difficult for the German political leadership to be openly critical of Israel, rumors have been placed so that they get into the media. I have no doubt that there is friction between Netanyahu and Merkel. They obviously don’t trust or like each other. The announcement of new settlement construction while Germany and the other members of the Quartet are trying to get the Israelis and Palestinians back to the bargaining table was clearly, whether meant or not, a thumb in the eye of the Chancellor.

Both Merkel and Netanyahu are tough customers. However, in international matters personal pique rarely counts.

My guess is that eventually the matter will be resolved and the sale will go through but love will not blossom forth.

*********************************************************************************************************

See you again in November.

DuBow Digest is written and published by Eugene DuBow who can be contacted by clicking here

Both the American and Germany editions are posted at www.dubowdigest.typepad.com Click here to connect

12