Germany's Die Rechte Party Requesting Census Data on Jews...

[Sanji Himura]

In Dortmund, Germany, the Die Rechte party in the town has repeatedly asked for census data on Jews living in the town. The Mayor, politely telling the party to stuff it, is now seeking to ban the party from Germany.

The only issue is that one of the city council members is a member of the party. His justification of the request was that it needed to know the size of each religious group so that "it could do its job."

Meanwhile the German Foreign Minister was visiting Israel over the weekend, and commented in an Op-Ed in the Times of Israel that, "Jewish life is flourishing again in Germany and in Europe. Given our history, that’s nothing less than a miracle and a blessing – Jewish life is back at the heart of our society – and that’s where it belongs!”

He goes on to address the recent surge of attacks against Jews in Germany, writing, "We’re horrified by the spate of anti-Semitic hate-mongering and attacks which we’ve seen in many European cities during the last few months, not only in Germany, but sadly also in our country, an open, brutal anti-Semitism has again reared its ugly head.”

Die Rechte was formed two years ago and has roughly 500 members.

Source: ynetnews.com

 

[TenEightyOne]

In Dortmund, Germany, the Die Rechte party in the town has repeatedly asked for census data on Jews living in the town. The Mayor, politely telling the party to stuff it, is now seeking to ban the party from Germany.

I'm glad they've put their heads above the parapet this early, nice easy shot.

 

[PeterJB]

So it's basically Germany's answer to the EDL..

 

[Liquid]

Small fry idiots get information request denied. Non-issue.

 

[TenEightyOne]

Small fry idiots get information request denied. Non-issue.

For most places. In Germany, a country that still feels very raw about the holocaust, this seems to have caused a lot of upset. They fear the far-right's influence for many reasons, they only got their country back in one piece 25 years ago.

 

[Liquid]

Germany's a big boy now. It doesn't need to constantly question itself. I find it somewhat patronising that there's an external and probably internal attitude of "Well done, Deutschland, you're overcoming x, y, z". The far right are only popular in very small pockets of some areas of former East Germany, which is no surprise. That is a separate issue, but we've gone way past the point where Judaism and the War are or should be the centre of attention.

 

[PeterJB]

I was chatting to someone from Germany at a house party on Friday, I asked about Hitler and the Nazis and if this is still a big social taboo in Germany. He said they don't really care because they spend years being taught all about it in history class, and it just becomes boring.

 

[TenEightyOne]

I was chatting to someone from Germany at a house party on Friday, I asked about Hitler and the Nazis and if this is still a big social taboo in Germany. He said they don't really care because they spend years being taught all about it in history class, and it just becomes boring.

That's encouraging, I'm guessing he's part of the younger generation. Maybe he's only ever known Germany itself? For people who lived through the bloc in the shadow of the Cold War it's a little different, I think.

 

[PeterJB]

He's 25, so yeah he's only known unified Germany.

 

[TenEightyOne]

He's 25, so yeah he's only known unified Germany.

I do think that older Germans beat themselves up a little too much about it... but then Germany was effectively ripped apart through the Second World War (and the reparations). A friend of my father's was German, when they first became friends and found out that we lived in (actually outside) Coventry he was devastated... he'd bombed the city as a young man. It actually made them better friends in a way but I was astonished to see how devastated Henri was by it. You couldn't live in Coventry without seeing the effects of the Blitz, but it hadn't occurred to me that the feelings might still be so raw (this was the early 80s).

It's good that that awareness exists though, and this is a good example of it. I wonder though; if only younger people were responding to this request for a count of the Jewish population would the warning signs flash up as bright in their minds?

 

[DK]

I'm kind of finding it ironic that the pockets of neo-Nazi Neanderthals in Germany are in the formerly Communist East.

 

[BobK]

Is the Die Rechte party asking about all religions or only Jews? And what job is it they intend to do with the information?

 

[TenEightyOne]

Is the Die Rechte party asking about all religions or only Jews? And what job is it they intend to do with the information?

I tried to find that out; as far as I could tell the request was only for information about the Jewish population... but given the circumstances the headline might have been filtered through a few clickbaiters.

 

[Sanji Himura]

I tried to find that out; as far as I could tell the request was only for information about the Jewish population... but given the circumstances the headline might have been filtered through a few clickbaiters.

I doubt it. Ynetnews is an Israeli news site. If anything, the site is the source, and it spread to more respectable Israeli newspapers, the aforementioned Times of Israel, the Jerusalem Post and so on. I caught wind of it by way of The Blaze, an American site which linked to the Ynet article and the Times of Israel op-ed.

 

[TenEightyOne]

I doubt it. Ynetnews is an Israeli news site.

Well, you didn't provide a link to anything... and Dortmund separated from Israel since... erm, let's see...

And, having looked for a source (which you didn't); they asked for about 25 datasets and not only Jewish questions were involved. Proper source, you'll need a decent browser if you don't speak German.

 

[Liquid]

From that German link, these fellas were asking about Kurds as well as Jews in 25 extraordinary information requests. A ban on the party is being investigated and "seems possible". Everyone else was quick to condemn this act of "racial hatred".