Please visit the Washington Times online at: http://www.washtimes.com

The Washington Times

Party chief asks Jews to oppose German unity

February 21, 1990
Section: A
Edition: 2
Page: A1 James M. Dorsey THE WASHINGTON TIMES TWT

East German communist party leader Gregor Gysi has appealed to the international Jewish community for financial aid, claiming in an ironic twist of history that Jews should help prevent German reunification.

Appealing to Jewish memories of genocide by Nazi Germany, Mr. Gysi said Jews should play a key role in maintaining the independence of his financially crisis-ridden country.

His remarks contradict a call by East German Premier Hans Modrow for East and West German experts to start immediate talks on reunification under a formula nego-tiated with the World War II Allies last week.

Mr. Gysi made his remarks during a meeting last week with Rabbi Zvi Weinmann, an Israeli orthodox religious leader involved in supporting efforts to re-establish Jewish life in East Germany.

"Mr. Gysi explained to me that a united Germany would be bad for the whole world and especially for the Jews. He said that because of Nazism, we Jews should be the ones leading the opposition to reunification of Germany," Rabbi Weinmann said in a telephone interview from Jerusalem.

" `The entire world is monitoring your [the Jewish] response to this issue. If you support reunification, why should anyone else oppose it?' " Rabbi Weinmann quoted Mr. Gysi as saying.

The rabbi said he had met Mr. Gysi, who is himself of Jewish origin, and other East German leaders during a visit last week to East Berlin. He said he intended to return to East Berlin on Sunday.

State Department officials and East German Embassy spokesman Peter Janz expressed surprise at Mr. Gysi's remarks. They said Mr. Gysi's Party of Democratic Socialism had some time ago expressed support for reunification, insisting that it should be a gradual process.

"This is pretty strange stuff," said one U.S. official.

Rabbi Weinmann quoted Mr. Gysi as saying that East Germany was urgently seeking up to $15 billion in foreign investments and loans to ensure that it could maintain its independence.

The communist leader said his request was increasingly urgent because of the Soviet Union's intention to reduce its subsidized sales of 20 million barrels of oil a year to East Germany by approximately one-third.

Mr. Gysi's remarks seemed to have been timed to influence mounting debate within the world Jewish community as well as Israel on how to respond to the quickening pace of German reunification.

Israeli Foreign Minister Moshe Arens provoked a stir last week by becoming the first Israeli official to suggest that Jews may have little to fear from a reunited democratic Germany.

"Ironically, the new regimes in Eastern Europe appear to still believe in the `Protocols of Zion' and show that by appealing to Jews for help," said another senior Israeli official, commenting on developments in countries that often adhered to the 19th century anti-Semitic tract that alleged an international Jewish conspiracy to dominate the world.

Israeli and East German officials met in Denmark last month to discuss establishment of diplomatic relations. Mr. Modrow last week partially met Israeli demands for acknowledgment of German responsibility for Nazi crimes and for reparation payments by accepting blame in a letter to the World Jewish Congress.

Rabbi Weinmann quoted Mr. Gysi as saying that compensation could be discussed only after East Germans have gone to the polls on March 18.

World Jewish Congress President Edgar Bronfman is touring East European nations, including the Soviet Union, as well as Israel to canvass Jewish attitudes toward the German question.

Describing the issue of Jewish economic support for East Germany as a "thin subject," Israel Singer, secretary-general of the World Jewish Congress, said it was "not the first step" on his agenda. Speaking in a telephone interview from Warsaw, Poland, Mr. Singer said the world Jewish community would first have to address the issue of reunification before deciding on possible aid.

"It is an open question down the road - one we will address. It is our responsibility and duty to address it both for those who are alive and for those who are dead," he said in a reference to the 6 million Jews killed by Nazi Germany.

Mr. Singer said the Congress had planned a series of meetings to discuss German reunification in advance of a major policy statement by Mr. Bronfman. He described Mr. Modrow's letter as "the basis for an honorable beginning."

West German Ambassador to the United States Jurgen Ruhfus acknowledged Jewish concerns about reunification in an address to an American Jewish Congress convention in West Palm Beach, Fla. But Mr. Ruhfus was forced to contend with a skeptical response and repeated questions about what a new German state would do to ensure that centuries-old conflicts among Christians, Jews and Moslems would not explode.

AJC Executive Director Henry Siegman said Jewish concerns "are not easily susceptible to dissipation by some simple, even rational, political formula."


All content © 1990-, by News World Communications, Inc.; 3600 New York Avenue, NE; Washington, DC 20002 and may not be republished without permission. All archives are stored on a SAVE (tm) newspaper library system from MediaStream Inc., a Knight-Ridder Inc. company. Copyright © 1990 News World Communications, Inc. Reprinted with permission of The Washington Times.

Zurück zur Start Seite