AMERICAN EDITION

APRIL 15, 2009

Dear Friends:
The picture at left is not of me, It is my candidate for the most
important German national in New York. Who is he? Keep reading.
When this newsletter arrives in your e-mailbox I will almost be on my way
to
Atlanta and
Pensacola for a brief vacation. However, I’ll be checking my e-mails so if
you have comments please write and I’ll try to respond –
from the beach I hope.
IN THIS ISSUE:
*WANTED: AN AMERICAN AMBASSADOR TO
GERMNANY
*WHO IS THE MOST IMPORTANT GERMAN IN NEW YORK?
*THE GOOD
NAZI?
*AJC BERLIN (RAMER INSTITUTE)
*ISRAEL - GERMAN RELATIONS: AN OMINOUS SIGN?
*THE NEO-NAZI CONVENTION

WANTED: AN
AMERICAN AMBASSADOR TO GERMANY
The post of American Ambassador to
Germany
remains unfilled. I have a few possible candidates. If you want to know who
they are and why I think it’s important to appoint one soon, click
here: http://www.dubowdigest.typepad.com/
(http://www.dubowdigest.typepad.com/)
WHO IS THE MOST IMPORTANT GERMAN NATIONAL IN NEW YORK?
Frankly, it wouldn't surprise me if you couldn't name even a single
outstanding German citizen let lone the most important one. By and large
German nationals here in New York are quiet, mind their own business and
are engaged in all the professions and business that all other New Yorkers
find
themselves involved in. They blend in so well you hardly know they're
there.
So, since you can't help me, I'm going to appoint myself as a
committee of one and make the selection all alone.
My choice is Horst Freitag, the German Consul
General in New York (picture left). In all likelihood, the German
Ambassador ranks higher but he is in Washington and he does not have
the responsibility of dealing with the Jewish community of the Greater New
York Area. So not only does Dr. Freitag have to deal with America's most
important city but also with the largest Jewish Diaspora population in the
world. Not an easy job! In reality he’s the “German
Ambassador to the American Jews”. So who is this man?
Horst Freitag was born in Würzburg/Bavaria; he attended the Law School of
Bonn and received his PhD in International Law from the University of
Munich and Passau.
Prior to this new assignment Dr. Freitag served as the Commissioner for
the Middle East Affairs at the Foreign Office in
Berlin advising Foreign Ministers Joschka Fischer and Frank-Walter
Steinmeier. After the end of the German EU Presidency in 2007 he joined
the Center
on the United States and Europe at the Brookings Institution in Washington
as a Visiting Fellow.
During his career Dr. Freitag held various key appointments, including the
Director of the Defense and Security Policy Division as
well as Director of the Special Task Force on Iraq. His diplomatic career has
taken him to postings in Tegucigalpa, Washington and to Ramallah as Head
of the German Representative Office to the
Palestinian Authority.
Dr. Freitag and his wife Chantal have one daughter, Elena. They both have
close ties with the United States. Dr. Freitag attended the
German School in Washington D.C. and Chantal Freitag the Lycee Francais
in Los Angeles.
If
you’ve met Dr. Freitag you know him to be a warm and very personable
man. However, more important, he knows the Middle East, knows
international relations and is a dedicated transatlanticist. It’s very good for
those of us interested
in German – Jewish relations to have him among us.
AJC BERLIN (RAMER INSTITUTE)
The official name of AJC's Berlin Office is the Lawrence and Lee Ramer
Institute named after the Los
Angeles couple who started and have supported the agency's activities in
Germany for the last 15 years. Their picture is at the right.
And...
Every once in a while I enjoy taking you behind the scenes of what goes on
at the Ramer Institute to give you some insight
into what Deidre Berger and her staff are doing. I know from my Berlin days
and my many years as an AJC Area Director that it’s not always easy to
keep everyone who is
interested updated. So, Deidre has been good enough to supply me with
copies of the reports she sends to National and I want to share with you
what
has taken place in just one week’s time.
*Hosted Hillel Nauer of UN Watch for two meetings. The first with NGO
personnel and educators
and the second at the Bundestag with the Foreign Ministry’s Director of
Human Rights, diplomats, government officials and parliamentary
staff.
*With the Aspen institute held a planning meeting for a conference on Iran
*Met with the head of strategic planning at the German
Interior Ministry, to discuss ways in which the Interior Ministry is helping
with implementation of the parliamentary resolution on
anti-Semitism. They also discussed the potential composition of an
experts’ commission that will be convened to write
reports on anti-Semitism.
*Deidre attended an OSCE-sponsored experts’ workshop in Vienna on anti-
Semitism that was chaired by AJC’s Rabbi Andy
Baker who is an advisor to the OSCE on the subject.
* Deidre was interviewed on Deutschland Radio about the upcoming
Durban Review conference
in Geneva.
*Attended a
workshop conducted by the German Institute for Human Rights on Durban
that featured Chris Mburu from the UN High Commissioner’s office
preparing the
conference.
*Prepared and moderated a lively and well-attended session of the “Task
Force:
Education on Anti-Semitism” that featured a discussion of the debate
surrounding several controversial events organized by the Center
for Research on Anti Semitism in Berlin
* Deidre attended a presentation at the Cornelsen schoolbook publishing
company of an interactive
CD-Rom on anti -Semitism that was prepared by the Center for Research
on Anti-Semitism, in cooperation with AJC Berlin and the Berlin Teachers
Education Institute.
Had enough? And this is only in a week’s time. Actually there is a great
deal more. But, as you can see the AJC
presence is an important factor in Berlin and is producing at what I would
consider a very high level – and believe me, I’m an expert on the subject.

THE GOOD NAZI?

I
must admit that I'm no expert on cultural matters. I'm certainly no expert
when it comes to the cinema and as a moral judge I have absolutely no
credibility. However, an article in Der Spiegel caught my attention when it
reported on a film portraying a dedicated Nazi as its hero.
The film "John Rabe," a biography of the "good German of Nanking," tells
the story of a man who was born in Hamburg in 1882 and is still revered as
a national hero in China today. Director Florian Gallenberger, 38, paints a
jarring image which is no less
bizarre for all of its historical accuracy: The swastika, a symbol of Nazi
barbarity, is used to save the lives of innocent people. John Rabe is a film
about a Nazi who saved tens of thousands of lives. It depicts Rabe as "He
looks anxiously
at the sky, watching the low-flying fighter planes drop their bombs into the
fleeing crowd. It is December 1937, and German businessman John Rabe,
the
representative of the Siemens Group in the eastern Chinese city of
Nanking, is witnessing Japanese fighter pilots as they attack the
company's
facility there, killing helpless civilians. In that moment of despair, he
suddenly has an idea. Rabe, a long-standing member of the Nazi Party,
quickly orders his workers to unfurl an enormous swastika flag that the
party had sent to him in China. Then Rabe and large numbers of Chinese
crouch under the flag. The ruse works, and the
Japanese, allied with the Germans, call off the attack.
There is much more to movie and to the
article which mostly deals with how, finally, Germany in cinema is
beginning to deal with national heroes. The issues are complex and you
really should read about him.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Rabe
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Rabe)
Now, down to what interests
me. I think Germany is entitled to heroes. In fact, the suppression of
positive thoughts about their nationalism is not healthy for them or for us.
People should be proud of their country and those who have done
extraordinary things should be looked up to. In addition, I do not think that
every German who lived under the Hitler regime was evil - even some who
had to join the Nazi Party for economic reasons. The father of one of my
closest friends, in order to keep his job as an engineer, had to join some
sort of a Nazi professional organization and was no real Nazi. I believe
that’s true

Rabe worked in China for many years. He was appalled by the Japanese
atrocities in Nanking. According to Wikipedia, "On February 28, 1938 Rabe
left Nanking,
traveling to Shanghai and then back to
Germany. He showed films and photographs of Japanese
atrocities in lecture presentations in Berlin and
wrote to Hitler (https://app.e2ma.net/wiki/Adolf_Hitler) to use his influence
to persuade the Japanese to stop any more inhumane violence. As a result,
Rabe was detained and
interrogated by the Gestapo and his letter to Hitler was never delivered to
him. Due to the intervention of Siemens AG, Rabe was released. He was
allowed to keep evidence of the massacre, excluding the film, but was not
allowed to lecture or write on the subject. Rabe would continue working for
Siemens, which posted him briefly to the safety of Afghanistan. Rabe
subsequently worked in the Berlin headquarters of the company until the
end of the war.

After the war, Rabe was denounced for his Nazi Party membership and
arrested first by
the Russians and then by the British. However, investigations exonerated
him of any wrongdoing. He was formally declared "de-Nazified" by the
Allies
in June 1946 but thereafter lived in relative poverty. His family was also
starving at one point in time when he (Rabe) was partly supported by the
monthly food and money parcels sent by the Chinese government in
memory of his actions during the Nanking Massacre.
Rabe was obviously a man
with some sort of conscience and he did a lot more than many others to
save human life. However, I still have questions. What was he thinking
when he
actively joined the Party? Because of his stature in it he was able to
maintain an important position overseas. Certainly joining the Nazis
removed
him from the ranks of those that could or wanted to help his fellow Jewish
citizens. It's true that he was largely in China but I wonder whether he
accepted the Nazi philosophy about Jews. Did he even think about them?
Did he approve of making Germany free of Jews? Maybe he was a nice guy
who just "went along with the program" because he couldn't do anything
about it. However, active Nazi membership indicates to me a different
narrative.
The same goes for Col. Claus von Stauffenberg recently played by Tom
Cruise in
Valkyrie. Yes, he tried to kill Hitler but that only had to do with Germany's
future and nothing to do with the Jews.
The Germans I know today are
a very different lot. History has told them they have to stand up when moral
questions arise. To be honest about it, they are a helluva lot more
sensitive about such matters than many of us are. Their legacy impels
them to be serious about those sorts of issues and to never let
“it” happen again.
But, for me, a child of the 1930's and '40s, a big question remains when
talking about German "heroes" of that
same era. That question is, “What were they thinking when they joined the
Nazi Party - particularly about the Jews?”
ISRAEL - GERMAN RELATIONS: AN
OMINOUS SIGN?
Last March the German and Israeli cabinets met for the first time in a joint
session in Jerusalem with the promise that these sorts of meetings would
become a regular feature of the bilateral relationship.
More
than a year has now passed and, as we know, there is a new Israeli
government in office – one that is much further to the right politically and
one that, so far, is not pledged to a “Two State Solution” with the
Palestinians. That stance runs counter to the Germany’s stance on the
issue as well as that of the United States.
Ben Weinthal in the Jerusalem Post responding to a report in Der Spiegel
Online that
claimed German Chancellor Angela Merkel of the Christian
Democratic Union party had postponed a planned June 9 meeting because
of the right-leaning government of Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu.
Weinthal
reported, “When asked about the joint cabinet meeting, however, a
German government spokesman told
The Jerusalem Post on Monday that the joint session had "not been
postponed or
agreed upon."

The spokesman, who declined to be named

because he was not the designated spokesman for the Merkel
administration, denied the Spiegel report and said a joint
German-Israeli cabinet meeting could occur before the summer break.

While not formally refusing to meet with the

new Israeli government, Merkel delayed the meetings in her telephone
conversation with Netanyahu, according to Spiegel.
Merkel's official spokesman Thomas Steg said on Friday that "the
Chancellor agreed with Benjamin Netanyahu that, indeed, a
cabinet consultation will occur this year. Because of the formation of a new
government at this time in Israel, however, it is unlikely that such a
meeting, a joint
cabinet meeting, will still take place before the summer break."

Ilan Mor, the chargé d'affairs at the

Israeli Embassy in Berlin, told the Post on Monday that in the "good
tradition of the Merkel administration, efforts will be made as fast as
possible to give
priority" to convene a joint cabinet meeting.

Meanwhile, conflicting reports on diplomatic

tensions between Germany
and Israel swirled
around Social Democratic Party Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier,
who
sent a letter with an "admonition" to his new Israeli counterpart, Avigdor
Lieberman. Steinmeier, according to Spiegel, exhorted Lieberman to
maintain
the "momentum of the peace process," and in a break from diplomatic
protocol, did not propose a meeting date with him.

Asked about the German media report, a German

Foreign Ministry spokeswoman who declined to be named because of
German press council rules told the Post that "there was no admonition" in
the letter
to Lieberman. The spokeswoman would not furnish the Post with a copy of
the letter.

While terming the report "speculation" about

Steinmeier's alleged rebuke of Lieberman, the spokeswoman stressed that
Steinmeier had "made his position clear like Chancellor Merkel" that "there
is
no alternative to the two-state solution."

A meeting is not planned between Steinmeier

and Lieberman, according to the spokeswoman, who added that the
Foreign Ministry's letter contained an affirmation of "Israel's right to
exist."
I’m not
ready to read too much into the article or the current situation. Diplomatic
relations can be very peculiar and sometimes hard to read. Is there a
difference in the outlooks of the German and Israeli governments on the
Palestinian issue? No doubt! The answer is yes – for the moment.
I’m not yet ready to say exactly what the Netanyahu Administration’s
position is. It doesn’t seem to be clearly stated –
and there may be differences between his seeming pragmatic approach
and that of Foreign Minister Lieberman.
And since we’re talking
about differences, there might very well be differences between the
positions of Chancellor Merkel and Foreign Minister Steinmeier. After all,
come
this fall they will be head to head in the German elections.
I think the sensible thing to do is to wait and see – and follow the situation
closely – which we will
do. If you’re interested in the Der Spiegel article you can read it by clicking
here: http://www.spiegel.de/international/europe/0,1518,617589,00.html
(http://www.spiegel.de/international/europe/0,1518,617589,00.html)
THE NEO-NAZI
CONVENTION
I have frequently written
about the Neo-Nazi National Democratic Party (NPD) which is not very
democratic and barely national. Recently I wrote about the fact that they
are on
the cusp of bankruptcy (and they don’t even make cars). One would think
that the head of the Party would get voted out of office because of a
financial scandal. However, Deutsche reported “…Udo Voigt, party leader
since 1996, beat challenger Udo Pastoers by winning 136 of 218 votes at
the Berlin NPD party convention. Hundreds of police prevented more than
650
protestors from disrupting the two-day event at a municipal building in an
outer borough of the German capital.
About 450 police blocked off a
road leading up to the building and prevented the crowd from approaching
the entrance.

"We plan to have a compact team assembled for the 2009

election...We are a German-friendly party, and consider the German people
to be in danger," spokesman Klaus Beier said on Sunday after leaving
the convention.

The NPD, which is represented in Germany in state and local government,

but not at federal level, is
in financial difficulty after the German parliament fined it for accounting
irregularities. It has until next month to pay a balance of 2.2 million
euros although it has lodged an appeal against the fine.

The political party is frequently the target of German

prosecutors for its neo-Nazi stances.

State prosecutors charged Voigt last month with inciting

racial hatred for comments about a German soccer player soccer player.

In a pamphlet, published to coincide with the

2006 World Cup, the NPD insinuated that Patrick Owomoyela, born of a
German mother and a Nigerian father, was not worthy to play for
Germany.
The party has some 7,000 members in Germany. Last year it took seats on
every local
council it contested in the eastern state of Saxony and won 25.3 percent in
a neo-Nazi stronghold near the Czech border.
I don’t think it’s terribly important that
one Udo beat another Udo. However the fact that 650 protestors came out
to voice their displeasure with 354 Nazis says something about
“strength”. The fact that the NPD has only 7,000 members in a country of
82 million also says something. Of course, even 7,000 is 7,000
too many but I think we should be realistic in thinking about what sort of a
force they are. The fact that they are under a microscope in Germany is a
good thing. So, let’s keep
worrying but with a bit of sensible leavening. Passover’s over so leavening
is back on the good list.
P.S. The toughest Udo was not
Pastoers or Voight. It was Richard Widmark in the 1947 movie Kiss of Death
playing the psycho killer Tommy Udo not some neo-Nazi creep. Click here
to
see an Udo worthy of the name.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A6XQMxXgfos
(http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A6XQMxXgfos)
By the way, the neo-Nazis tried to have a demonstration in Lueneburg
(Lower Saxony) but they were met by
a counter group of 2,000 and had to call it off.
http://www.thelocal.de/society/20090412-18595.html
(http://www.thelocal.de/society/20090412-18595.html)
PERSONAL
NOTES
Remember, the DD website is
http://www.dubowdigest.typepad.com/
(http://www.dubowdigest.typepad.com/) If you're interested you can read
the
Germany Edition of DD there.
If you have an interest in German culture you should be in touch with the
Goethe Institute. This is a worldwide
institution with Centers in Atlanta,
Boston, Chicago, Los Angeles, New
York, San Francisco and Washington. Information is available at:
www.goethe.de (http://www.goethe.de/) (Look for the British flag
in the upper right hand corner for English)