Source: Voice of America
DATE=8/12/94
TYPE=CORRESPONDENT REPORT
NUMBER=2-163508
TITLE=GERMANY RIGHTWING (L)
BYLINE=EVANS HAYS
DATELINE=BONN
CONTENT=
VOICED AT:
INTRO: GERMAN JUSTICE MINISTER SABINE
LEUTHEUSSER-SCHNARRENBERGER HAS APPEALED TO ALL GERMANS TO SHUN
NEO-NAZI AND OTHER RIGHTWING EXTREMIST VIOLENCE. V-O-A’S EVANS
HAYS IN BONN REPORTS THE JUSTICE MINISTER WAS SPEAKING AS POLICE
BRACED FOR A WEEKEND OF POSSIBLE VIOLENCE INVOLVING RIGHTWING
EXTREMISTS.
TEXT: THE JUSTICE MINISTER, SPEAKING IN BONN, SAID EVERYONE IN
GERMANY MUST STAND TOGETHER AND REJECT WHAT SHE CALLED THE
ENEMIES OF FREEDOM AND DEMOCRACY. SHE SAID THERE MUST BE A
CLEAR SIGNAL THAT EXTREMISTS HAVE NO PLACE IN GERMANY.
THE JUSTICE MINISTER ALSO SAID LOCAL AND FEDERAL POLICE WERE
TAKING ALL NECESSARY PRECAUTIONS FOR THE WEEKEND. NEWS REPORTS
SAY LOCAL POLICE HAVE ALREADY DETAINED SEVERAL SUSPECTED
NEO-NAZIS IN SEVERAL TOWNS IN ADVANCE OF THE WEEKEND.
AUTHORITIES ARE CONCERNED THAT NEO-NAZIS WILL, AS IN THE PAST,
TRY TO MARK THE ANNIVERSARY OF THE DEATH OF RUDOLF HESS, A TOP
AIDE TO ADOLF HITLER. HESS HAS BECOME A CULT FIGURE AMONG
RIGHTWING EXTREMISTS SINCE HIS SUICIDE AT SPANDAU PRISON IN 1987.
HESS’S FAMILY CLAIMS HESS WAS MURDERED AT SPANDAU, A CLAIM DENIED
BY AUTHORITIES. HE WAS 93 AT THE TIME OF HIS DEATH AND THE ONLY
INMATE AT THE HUGE PRISON COMPLEX OUTSIDE BERLIN.
POLICE ARE WORRIED THERE COULD BE EVEN MORE TROUBLE AT THIS
YEAR’S ANNIVERSARY BECAUSE OF A RECENT COURT RULING IN WHICH A
PROMINENT RIGHTWING EXTREMIST WAS GIVEN ONLY A SUSPENDED JAIL
SENTENCE AND A SMALL FINE FOR DENYING THAT THE HOLOCAUST TOOK
PLACE.
SUCH CLAIMS ARE A CRIME IN GERMANY AND THE COURT RULING HAS
SPARKED WIDESPREAD PUBLIC OUTRAGE.
IN A WEEKEND NEWSPAPER INTERVIEW (WITH BILD ZEITUNG), CHANCELLOR
HELMUT KOHL ATTACKED THE COURT’S RULING AS A SCANDAL THAT BROUGHT
SHAME ON GERMANY.
MR. KOHL SAID IN THE INTERVIEW HE WAS GENERALLY AGAINST POLITICAL
CRITICISM OF THE COURTS. BUT HE SAID THIS WAS AN EXCEPTION.
IN ITS RULING, THE COURT SAID THE DEFENDANT — NEO-NAZI LEADER
GUENTHER DECKERT — HAD SHOWN DEEP CONVICTION IN EXPRESSING HIS
BELIEF THAT NO JEWS WERE KILLED BY THE NAZIS AT THE AUSCHWITZ
CONCENTRATION CAMP.
CHANCELLOR KOHL AND OTHER GERMAN OFFICIALS HAVE SUGGESTED THAT
ACTION BE TAKEN AGAINST THE JUDGES WHO MADE THE RULING. (SIGNED)
NEB/EH/MH/JWH
12-Aug-94 3:38 PM EDT (1938 UTC)
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Source: Voice of America
Last-Modified: 1994/08/23
