Volume XXXIII No. 8 August, 1978 INFORMATION ISSUED BY THE AssooAvm or XWBH gmces « OOAT BRITABI HellenHaU to the front which had nothing to do with the front at which tbe Wehrmacht fought". As if the front of the Wehrmacht in Hitler's war could be separated from the front of the THE JEWISH PAST THROUGH GERMAN EYES SS murderers?! In 1977, in the middle of a revival ol the by the Nazis, Leo Sievers, tbe author, states It is perhaps not surprising that in this *J^er cult, the Hamburg mass circulation that the main purpose of this solemn act was attempt at whitewashing Prusso-German *^kiy "Der Stem" made a courageous "to counteract the deeply rooted opposition of militarism, there is no space for one matter P'^nipt to bring to the knowledge of the the Reichswehr and the old families of Pms- in the "Stem" book: Mamy German Jews West German public something which had siam officers and civil servants against the joined the resistance against Nazism in Ger­ ^een almost completely unknown to it: Par obscure Austrian". As if the "obscure many and gave their lives in this fight. Others T^ks, it published a series of articles imder Austrian" who began his political career as an carried on this fight from abroad, and during •~® heading "Jews in Germany, the History informer for the Army in Munich, could ever the war many joined the Allied Forces in tbe r*^a Tragedy of 2,000 years". Probably for have seized power without the active help fight against Hitler. We have no reason to be ^ first time millions of readers had an and support of just those circles who Sievers ashamed of this record. ^pPortimity to become acquainted with the alleges were "opposed" to him. Describing Nor do we find in this History of German "^tory of their erstwhile Jewish compatriots. the reaction of German Jewry to the events Jewry a word on the contributions which . These articles have now been published of 1933 he quotes as his only source Profes­ German Jewish survivors made to the culture ^ book form,* and here we find this history sor Schoeps, who submitted a memorandum and the economic and technical life of the Parting with the conquest of parts of Ger- to Hitler suggesting some method of "integra­ countries in which they found refuge. ^any by the Roman armies which brought tion" of the Jews into the Third Reich. The It is unfortunate that thus the last Chapter ^^^ them Jewish slaves and later Jewish same Professor Schoeps is now quoted as say­ of the book mars this otherwise praiseworthy pttlements on the Rhine, Main and Danube, ing as am excuse for his erstwhile lack of attempt at writing a popular history of German oilow^ed by waves of persecution starting foresight—to put it mildly: "Nobody could Jewry which, in the words of Leo Baeck, came ?^th the Crusades in the eleventh century have imagmed in any possible way between to an end in 1933. ^ periods of reconstruction and further 1933 amd 1935 what crimes the Nazis would commit one day. Who alleges anything like * Leo Sievers. Juden in Deutschland. Die GeKhlcht* ^^ecution and eventually by emancipation einer 2000 JShrlgen Tragfidle.—Ein. Stern-Buch: Verlag ^^ assimilation, ending with the seizure of this, is a liar". At the risk of being called a Gruner & Jahr A. G. & Co.. Hamburg. DM 32. *^^r by the Nazis and the holocaust. liar by the professor, the writer of this review must confess that there were many of us who •• A review ol a recently written book about the history This history is written in a fluent, some- realised at once after the seizure of power of the "Frontbund" will b« published in one of our next P^^ even flippant style and succeeds in its amd certainly after the Reichstag fire that the issues.—The Editor. ^^n aim to popularise the essential facts of Nazis were a gang of criminals whose batUe J^erman Jewish history-. The book describes cry "Juda verrecke" was meant seriously. •jO* Jews played an important part even in Even if in 1933 we did not know by what GERMAN RIGHT-WING TRENDS /'s early days. It was a Jew, Isaac, who method this aim would be achieved, many In a Federal German Governmental report Drought the precious gifts from Harun-al- Jews and non-Jews knew what was going on f^hii to Charlemagne in Aachen in 802, and it was stated that in 1977 the number of Right- in the Storm troop cellars as early as March, ^ving excesses had doubled as compared with pother Jew, Kalonymos, who saved the life 1933, and that this was only a foretaste of J Emperor Otto II when he had been de­ things to come. Is Professor Schoeps quoted 1976; they amounted to 616 as against 319. lated by the Saracens in 982. The book sets to strengthen the myth that the German Whereas previously swastika daubings and j.^t the life stories of great German Jews people did not know what was going on? desecrations of Jewish cemeteries were pre­ .^^ the Minnesanger Siisskind von Trimberg, dominant, later on cases in which neo-Nazis .!** Jewish financier Michael von Derenberg, As representative opinions of Germaii had obtained money and ammunition by force J"* first advocate of Jewish rights, Josel von Jewry in the early days of the "Third Reich" stood in the foreground. There are at present ihsbW iTSheim, Gliickel von Hameln and finally Sievers only quotes the views of the "Deutsche 17 neo-Nazi groups, several of which were ts •"<' '^oses Mendelssohn. Vortrupp", led by the same I*rofessor found to be in possession of explosives. There FroifJ All this is well written although more than Schoeps, Dr. Naumamn's "Verband national­ also exist 30 extreme Right-wing publishers lomef ^'^e chronological sequences get mixed up. deutscher Juden" and the "Reichsbund and distributors, and the demand for Nazi lit­ ?^ the history approaches the final catas- juedischer Frontsoldaten". The attitude of erature, films, records and symbols is on the ^Phe of 1933, the author gets carried away the "Vortrupp" amd the "Verband national­ rise. Among the organisations which com­ r^th his eagerness to show how attached deutscher Juden" were treated with contempt by the vast majority of German Jews, and the prise more than 5,000 members, the "Deutsche y^JTnan Jews were to their fatherland. Apart Volksunion" under the leadership of Dr. Frey J''<>in the fact that the description of the more policy of the "Reichsbund juedischer Front­ soldaten" after the ascent of the Nazi regime is the most important one. In 1977 it organised ^<*nt period is not free from serious errors, four spectacular mass meetings. The "Deut­ !'";h as alleging that Heine became a French met equally sharp criticism and was in no way ^tizen, the author devotes a disproportionate representative of the views prevaUing at the sche Nationai-Zeitung", edited by Dr. Frey, has mount of space to show the Jewish contribu- time.** The responsible organisations of Ger­ a circulation of 100,000 copies and tries to in­ .?! to the Prussian and German military man Jewry which were able to continue their crease its readership by "Hitler headlines". work imtU 1938, concentrated on organising Commenting on the situation, the report rom ^«ort since the so-called "Wars of Liberation" tteres' ^ chapter which with the benefit of hind- emigration and resettlement particularly of states that the security authorities of the ^ht appears pathetic. The book is superficial the younger generation of German Jews. To a "Bund" and the "Laender" have taken all nec­ "''a one-sided in its description of Jewish large extent it is due to their efforts and not essary measures against the illegal actions of 24 hf- faction to anti-Semitism in tiie more modem the antics of eccentrics like Professor the Right-wing extremists. Never before had rite: I^eriod. Schoeps and the late Dr. Naumann that a there been so many proceedings and convic­ jThis defect becomes more serious when the considerable proportion of the younger genera­ tions as in 1977. Generally, criminal proceed­ EO °^k deals with the Hitler period itself. Des- tion was saved. ings are described as the most efiective coun­ P^bing the "Day of Potsdam", the solemn act Sievers lets the cat out of the bag when he ter-measures. In addition, steps are also taken y which Hindenburg gave official sanction to describes the work of Globotnik, one of the if the laws of assembly or the relevant clauses •le Hitler regime a few weeks after the terror SS leaders responsible for the murder of of the Federal German constitution are in­ ^u began with the buming of the Reichstag innumerable Jews in Poland. "He was posted fringed. i^l Page 2 AJR INFORMATION August 1978 A CONTROVERSIAL TOWN MAYOR Efforts to annul the election of one of the three mayors of Grafrath, Bavaria, have 8* NEWS FROM GERMANY far been without success. Sixty-seven-year-old Josef Friedinger was an official in Dachau PROSECUTION OF NAZIS concentration camp and a member of the S.S. STREET BATTLES IN FRANKFURT Death Head Regiment. A meeting of the N.P.D. of the Federal A Hanover court sentenced former S.S. Republic in Frankfurt was originally banned sergeant Friedrich Rathja, 64, to a suspended by the civic administration, but they were two years' jail term and a fine of about £1,330 KREISDIREKTOR SUSPENDED over-ruled by a High Court decision. Subse­ for complicity in the murder of 900 Lublin quently it came to repeated clashes between Jews in 1942 and 1943.