AMERICAN EDITION

March 9, 2010

Dear Friends:

As you open this newsletter I will be packing for a brief vacation in Florida (just
five days) to visit my kid sister (To me she’s a kid even though she and her
husband have 7 grandchildren).

I’ve been working on a special breakfast meeting that German Ambassador

Scharioth will be having at the time of the AJC Annual Meeting in Washington for
some of those who have participated in the exchange program AJC has with the
Konrad Adenauer Foundation. It’s to celebrate the 30th anniversary of the
program.

Things are quiet on the German – Jewish front. The Germans have their hands
full with the financial trouble that Greece is having since they share a currency
(The Euro). The German national budget passed but with a record deficit. In
addition, they’re trying to lower drug costs by forcing the pharma companies to
negotiate prices with the government (It didn’t fly here. Maybe it will there.)

They had a terrible cold and snowy winter which, like our own, seems to be
coming to an end. Everybody has problems. No matter! Let’s get on with the
news…

IN THIS EDITION

A NAZI CASTLE OR COLLEGE? – They’ve got the “campus” I wonder when (if)
the course work will begin and what it will consist of.

BERLIN vs. VIENNA – Will the Austrians ever “’fess up”?

DANIEL LIBESKIND – One of the great Jewish architects has a booming market
in Germany.

THE EU’S FOREIGN SERVICE APPARARTUS – A growing group and, perhaps,

a growing problem. Lady A. is coming to Gaza. Expect trouble!

MUNICH RE – A big company does the right thing.

GERMANY’S IMAGE – They’re number three! Not bad!

GERMANY & ISLAM – The road to integration.

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A NAZI CASTLE OR COLLEGE?

Spiegel On-Line recently reported, “Two prominent neo-Nazis have bought a

crumbling 18th century palace in an eastern German village. The locals don't
seem bothered about the prospect of far-right neighbors, but regional authorities
are worried that the property will be turned into a neo-Nazi training center.

The former seat of the aristocratic Rauchhaupt family stands empty in the village
of Trebnitz, some 20 miles southwest of the eastern German city of Leipzig. At
one point it was a retirement home. Soon, young neo-Nazis might be moving in,
after two leading figures in Germany's far-right scene purchased the property for
just €80,000 ($108,000) at an auction a few days ago.

The new owners are Thomas Wulff and Axel Schunk. Wulff has been convicted
several times for incitement to racial hatred and displaying banned Nazi symbols.
He calls himself "Steiner," in honor of a former officer of Hitler's murderous
Waffen SS unit, and is a member of the executive of the far-right National
Democratic Party. He was a close friend of Jürgen Rieger, the prominent neo-
Nazi who died last year.

Schunk was a leading member of the far-right "Wiking" youth organization, which
has since been banned. Asked by SPIEGEL ONLINE what they plan to do with
the property, both declined to comment.

There's talk that Wulff and Schunk plan to use Trebnitz Palace as some sort of
far-right training center. Authorities and local political parties are worried. The
interior ministry of the state of Saxony-Anhalt suspects they want to Trebnitz into
a place of "national importance for right-wing extremists," not least because of its
favorable location close to the A14 autobahn. The region seems to be a focal
point for neo-Nazis. The NPD youth organisation "Junge Nationale" recently
moved its headquarters to the nearby town of Bernburg, and some leading
eastern German extremists live in the area.

However...

Even if the new owners have the cash, Wulff and Schunk face some tough
administrative hurdles before they can realize their plans, whatever those may
be. The palace is under monument protection, and they will have to submit a
detailed concept for its use if they are to have any hope of getting planning
permission. That can take a very long time in Germany, especially if the owners
are frowned upon. The Interior Ministry and Germany's domestic intelligence

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service have pledged to keep a very close eye on who goes in and out of the
building.

While I hate to see developments such as this one take place, I’m sure the
Interior Ministry will do what they have to in order to keep the place under strict
surveillance. I think that neo-Nazi activity is a given in Germany and throughout
Europe. The best we can hope for is for the various governments to do what
they’re supposed to – keep an eye these guys and see to it that they do not
cause real trouble.

BERLIN vs. VIENNA

I’m not much of a fan of Austria. During World War II when the Russians and the
Americans decided that it should be “neutral” they declared Austria as "the first
victim of Hitlerite aggression" and called for the reestablishment of an
independent Austria. After the war the Austrians held on to that falsity (Very
false!) and continued to see themselves as victims in spite of the fact that some
800,000 Austrians had been drafted into the German Wehrmacht and another
150,000 served in the Waffen SS, an elite Nazi military unit. Austrians were
integrated into German units, and no specifically Austrian military brigades were
formed. Austrians loyally supported Germany through the war. Hardly neutral in
my book.

After the war such questionable politicians as Kurt Waldheim and Jörg Haider
emerged and held high positions. If you don’t know who they were, look them up.
National Socialist would not be too far from a realistic assessment of their politics
and history.

Karl Lueger was the Mayor of Vienna from 1897 to1910 and was an outstanding
anti-Semite. According to Michael Z. Wise in the Forward “A monument to
Lueger, who turned Vienna into the first major city in the Western world
controlled by a party openly devoted to hating Jews, stands on a square along
the Ringstrasse. A separate section of the boulevard encircling the Austrian
capital is still named after the late 19th-century mayoral demagogue who served
as inspiration for Adolf Hitler. But now, Vienna’s University of Applied Arts has
organized an international competition to come up with proposals for reworking
the square. “The statue stands for patriarchal hero worship and an
undifferentiated way of dealing with history,” organizers write in their request for
submissions. “It thus becomes a monument to trivializing, and tolerating anti-
Semitism.” The competition brief calls not for removing the statue, but rather
transforming it into a monument against anti-Semitism and racism.

I would say that such a change is long overdue. However, Veronika Matiasek,
leader of the Vienna contingent of the right-wing Freedom Party, has condemned
the competition and lauded Lueger’s achievements. Leftist activists and artists
should “keep their hands off historic structures and monuments,” she declared

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last December. While the current mayor, Michael Häupl, a Social Democrat, has
rejected any plan to overhaul the landmark, he concedes that in view of Lueger’s
indisputable exploitation of anti-Semitism for political gain, there may be a need
to install an explanatory plaque nearby. Weak! Weak! Weak!

At the moment the decision whether to make the change or not is up in the air.
My guess is that they won’t.

Frankly, I’m disappointed in the Austrians but that is nothing new. Interestingly,
Berlin also a nation’s capital has gone in a very different direction when it comes
to its statues and memorials. From the Memorial to the Murdered Jews of
Europe to the little “Stumble Stones” imbedded in front of the houses where Jews
formerly lived, Berlin has a very different way of treating its history. More
important, however is the attitude of the political leadership and the citizenry at
large. For acceptance of responsibility Berlin wins this one hands down.

DANIEL LIBESKIND

During my stay in Berlin during the late 1990’s, the most exciting architectural
undertaking that was being worked on was the Jewish Museum designed by the
American Jewish architect Daniel Libeskind. Libeskind was born in Poland,
moved to Israel when he was 11 and eventually came to the U.S. growing up in
New York City. He actually lived in Berlin for 5 or 6 years while the Jewish
Museum was being built. (I believe that he and his wife were at the banquet
event celebrating the opening of the AJC Berlin Office/Ramer Center) in
February of 1998. The Museum design was so radical and different that 350,000
people visited just to see the design before there was even anything in the
building. If you’ve never seen it yourself click here to see what I’m talking about.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jewish_Museum,_Berlin

Interestingly, Libeskind has continued to design things in Germany. Frankly, I

thought that once he did the Berlin Museum that would be it. I was wrong! To my
surprise he had previously designed the Felix Nussbaum Haus in Osnabrück, a
museum housing the art of Nussbaum who died in the Holocaust. (Click here)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Felix_Nussbaum_Haus

In addition he designed expensive and very unusual prefab houses for sale in a
town near Dortmund. http://www.dw-world.de/dw/article/0,,5238708,00.html

There are others in Germany including an office complex (Kö-Bogen) in

Düsseldorf and theaters in Berlin and Saarbrücken. You can see all these
projects by clicking here. http://www.daniel-libeskind.com/projects/show-all/

The most important at the moment is the radical design at the Military History
Museum in Dresden. The fact that someone who is Jewish, American and the
child of Holocaust survivors can be chosen for such a task says volumes about

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where Germany is these days when it comes to “our” people. You can see it by
clicking on the URL is the last paragraph.

A personal note: In perusing Libeskind’s bio on the Internet, I was surprised to

find out that he had once taught at my alma mater, the University of Kentucky. If I
had known that in the 1990’s when we were both in Berlin I would have sought
him out so that we could sip a little bourbon, talk basketball and sing My Old
Kentucky Home together. A missed opportunity!

THE EU’S FOREIGN SERVICE APPARARTUS

In previous editions of this newsletter I have written about the fact that under the
provisions of the Lisbon Treaty which strengthens and expands the EU, a new
Foreign Service was to be established. A virtual unknown British member of the
House of Lords, Lady Catherine Ashton, was appointed as the foreign policy
chief. I said at the outset that with the size foreign service apparatus (thousands
of Foreign Service officers) there was no way that the individual foreign services,
such as Germany’s, could remain as strong as they have been in the past. With
Israel leaning heavily on German support, that support may not mean as much in
the future as it has in the past.

A recent article in Der Spiegel notes, “The European Union's new diplomatic
service is still months from completion. But already, Germany is worried that the
bloc's new foreign policy chief, Catherine Ashton, is handing over too many top
slots to Britons. Diplomats from Germany and France are displeased with the
personnel preferences being shown by EU High Representative for Foreign
Affairs and Security Policy Catherine Ashton, according to an article in the
Guardian. Citing anonymous sources, the paper says there is concern that four
of the 12 positions in her Brussels office have been given to Britons and that
several important jobs in the new EU diplomatic service have gone to UK
diplomats.

There is little doubt that Lady Ashton, as the article notes is “underestimated”.
She seems to be going full tilt in making her new organization “the spokesman”
for EU foreign policy. Germany and France pushed hard to get this sort of united
foreign policy body established, thinking, I believe, that they could control it. Only
time will tell what sort of power they will have. In the meantime the European
External Action Service, as the new Foreign Service is being called, grows and
becomes more powerful. And…by the way, Lady Ashton has just announced that
she will be visiting Gaza in the next week or so. Considering her recent
statements critical of Israel even before she took office, I smell trouble.

Read the Spiegel story and I believe you’ll be as concerned as I am. Click here.
http://www.spiegel.de/international/europe/0,1518,681291,00.html#ref=nlint

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MUNICH RE

If you’re in the insurance business you would certainly know what Munich Re is.
As a Jewish professional, even though I’ve spent a lot of time in Germany, I was
“uninformed”. It took an article in The Local to let me know that it is the world’s
largest reinsurer and I further found out on the Internet that reinsurers insure
insurance companies. Jewish pro’s don’t know everything.

Even more important, the article noted that Munich Re, “became the latest
German firm to pull out of Iran as pressure grows for new sanctions
against the Islamic republic over its nuclear programme. The company said
in a brief statement that due to the "political situation" it has decided not to renew
any existing contracts when they expire or to write any new business.

For a firm generating close to €40 billion ($54 billion) in premiums each year, the
loss of an estimated €10 million is small, but the move is politically significant.

The announcement follows a similar move by German engineering giant

Siemens last month, and comes amid pressure from Germany's partners to cut
its business ties with Iran.

Chancellor)Merkel has been forthright in calling for more pressure on Iran over
its nuclear activities, which Tehran says are for peaceful purposes but which
Washington and others suspect are a front for developing nuclear weapons.
Berlin has already reduced to a trickle the special export guarantees crucial to
companies trading with Iran.

In addition, according to press reports, the German government is applying

pressure on chambers of commerce not to organise seminars on Iran or
business trips there.

From everything I have been able to read (and hear) Germany is doing exactly
what it said it would do – severely cut down its trade with Iran. If China and
Russia would do the same maybe the proposed sanctions would really turn out to
be important.

GERMANY”S IMAGE

While it might not be quite as high in the American Jewish community, the image
of Germany throughout the United States is increasingly excellent. In a recent
poll “The survey showed "the Americans' thoroughly positive view of our
country," (German Ambassador) Scharioth said.

The survey, commissioned by the German Embassy, found that 48 percent of

US citizens asked had an 'excellent' or 'good' general impression of Germany,
while 41 percent believed that Germany and the US enjoyed 'excellent' or 'good'

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relations with one another. These are the most positive results since the regular
survey was first carried out in 2002.

The last time this popularity survey was undertaken in October 2008, only 43
percent of Americans had a positive view of Germany, and only 34 percent
thought the USA had good relations with Germany.

Most US citizens connect Germany with technology, art and culture, the results
concluded. 48 percent thought of Germany as a high-tech country, while 44
percent believed that Germany boasted a lively art and culture scene.

But while Germany's popularity in the US may be gradually increasing, its

standing in the world is apparently on the decline. Only 43 percent of Americans
believe that Germany still plays an important role in international politics, down
from 49 percent in 2004. Only around 25 percent of Americans believe that
Germany contributes significantly to the global fight against terrorism, and 47
percent think that Germany should be doing more.

There are two things of real interest in the poll. First, obviously a goodly number
of Americans think highly of Germany these days. In my opinion the numbers
have gone up because of the excellent impression Chancellor Merkel has made
here and her policies are seen as pretty much in lock step with our own. The
sending of more German troops to Afghanistan (in spite of the lack of popularity
that policy has in Germany itself) and the willingness to seriously take on Iran
have registered with Americans.

However, the belief that Germany plays less of an important role in international
politics is not a good sign. As I’ve pointed out a number times, the role Germany
plays in terms of “Jewish interests” is very significant. Any increasing distance
between the U.S. and Germany might weaken the importance of our connection
to decision makers in the Federal Republic. In two words, “Not good!”

GERMANY & ISLAM

There are about 4 million people of the Islamic faith in Germany. Since the vast
majority are Turks, the imams at their mosques are imports from Turkey. Turkish
imams are trained by the Turkish government but almost none of those who wind
up in Germany know anything about Germany or German culture. This set up
does not in any way help integrate the Turkish population and it seems now the
German government wants to do something about it. Spiegel On-line points out
“Germany lacks well-established Islamic theological programs that can educate
German-born Islamic scholars, which means that Muslim congregations often
have little choice but to import imams and religion teachers from abroad. But
German policy-makers are increasingly considering whether religious leaders
from Turkey or other nations are the best candidates to lead congregations in
Germany, especially following a recommendation in February by the German

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Council of Science and Humanities, an advisory group to federal and state
governments, which called for the prompt creation of two to three new Islamic
theology programs within German public universities. The creation of such
programs can be considered a progressive notion in a nation where even the
construction of a neighborhood mosque with minarets can ignite fears over the
increasing prevalence of Islam in Europe

But for Germany, a country perpetually seeking antidotes to what many of its
citizens see as the difficulty of integrating its manifold population of 4 million
Muslims, comprised mostly of Germany's large Turkish minority, the idea of
cultivating a distinctly German form of Islam that is rooted in German institutions,
or at least mosque leaders with a native knowledge of the German language and
the communities they serve, is increasingly seen as wise integration policy.

Integrating of new ethnic populations in the U.S. is so much a part of our heritage
and way of life we don’t think much about it. Here there are courses in English
but the “American way of life” seems to rub off on immigrants without too much
trouble if not in the first generation, certainly by the second. That is not the case
in Germany. Germany is just not an “immigration country”. So, the training of
imams seems like a good idea and, perhaps, the most radical kind of thinking
disseminated in the mosques will be kept to a minimum.

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See you later in the month.

DuBow Digest is written and published by Eugene DuBow who can be contacted at edubow@optonline.net
Both the American and Germany editions are also posted on line at www.dubowdigest.typepad.com.

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