Latest German anti-semitic scandal

["Johannes Schneider" <Johannes.Schneider@xxxxxxx>]

I think the speech by German conservative MP Martin Hohmann shows the
specific character of anti-semitism in Germany. MP Hohmann can be considered
a German equivalent of the Christian Right in the US: an anti-communist, a
religous bigott, a homophobe, a Muslim hater and an anti-semite (whereas his
US counterparts are pro-zionist).

>From the BBC website:

German MP sparks Jewish row
A German parliamentarian has refused to apologise for saying Jews could be
described as a 'race of perpetrators' because of their role in the Russian
Revolution.
Conservative Martin Hohmann had said many Jews were active in revolutionary
execution squads.
[...]
He compared the killings, which he said were orchestrated by Jews in
Russia's violent 1917 revolution, with the murder of Europe's Jews during
the Holocaust of the Second World War.
According to a transcript of his speech shown on the website of his local
CDU branch in Neuhof, Mr Hohmann said: "Jews were active in great numbers in
the leadership as well as in the Cheka (Soviet secret police) firing squads.
"Thus one could describe Jews with some justification as a Taetervolk (a
race of perpetrators).
Full:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/3230223.stm

AP report:
Germans in Row Over 'Anti-Semitic' Speech
By STEPHEN GRAHAM
Associated Press Writer
October 31, 2003, 8:32 AM EST
[...]
In the Oct. 3 speech marking German Unity Day in his home town of Neuhof,
Hohmann argued that Germans still labor under the burden of Nazi crimes, but
other nations with bloody pasts cast themselves as "innocent lambs." He
cited the French revolution and the prominent role of Jews in the 1917
communist revolution in Russia.
"With a certain justification, one could ask in light of the millions killed
in the first phase of the revolution about the 'guilt' of the Jews," Hohmann
said, according to a copy of the speech obtained by The Associated Press.
[...]
In his speech, Hohmann claimed that the "currently dominant political class
and science in Germany" were obsessed with atoning for the Holocaust.
He concluded by arguing that the point was not to blame the Germans for Nazi
crimes or Jews for those of the Bolsheviks, but rather "the godless with
their godless ideologies."



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