German anti-Semitism is far from dead, although government officials are doing what they can to snuff it out. A German neo-Nazi politician has even managed to get himself placed on the European Parliament’s Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs Committee.
A cordial invitation to Jewish athletes to hold the Maccabi Games in Berlin brought the eyes of the world to Germany as Hitler’s stadium filled with cheering. But vicious anti-Semites still managed to seek out Jewish athletes at their hotel, over the Internet and on the street.
Safety was still an issue: athletes were bluntly warned not to wear anything that would openly identify them as Jews – this, 70 years after Hitler’s defeat.
Last month, vandals still managed to paint swastikas on tombstones at a Jewish cemetery in Gleideingen. Police launched an investigation and questioned witnesses, according to the Coordination Forum for Countering Anti-Semitism (CFCA). Cemetery visitors immediately called police upon discovering the vandalism July 16.
Even worse, at the beginning of July, German neo-Nazi politician Udo Voigt, 55, joined the European Parliament’s Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs Committee.
The move drew an outraged reaction from European Jewry and a pledge from the parliament’s president to oppose him, EurActiv.com reported. But he is still there.
The Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs Committee is responsible for the protection of citizens’ rights, human rights and measures to combat discrimination.
Udo Voigt, 55, is the former leader of the National Democratic Party of Germany, classified by German intelligence as a far-right extremist party.
Lawmakers are currently engaged in a legal battle before the German courts in an attempt to have the party banned on the grounds that its ideology is identical to that of Adolf Hitler.
Voigt has openly stated his praise for Hitler on the record; he even was convicted in 2009 for glorifying the Waffen SS. He is the son of a former Wehrmacht officer who tried to nominate Hitler’s deputy, Rudolf Hess, as a candidate for the Nobel Peace Prize. Voigt himself once claimed “no more than 340,000 Jews” died in the Holocaust.
A set number of committee seats are allocated to unaffiliated European Parliament members, to be divided among all independent politicians such as Voigt.
With a lawmaker like Voigt accepted for membership to the European Union’s parliament, one does not need to wonder why there is so much anti-Israel sentiment on that body.