Ethnic Cleansing in Germany: A Symposium

Rather belatedly, Chancellor Helmut Kohl’s government has banned two of the most belligerent neo-Nazi groups, the Nationalist Front and German Alternative, as well as certain songs of neo-Nazi rock groups which endorse racial violence and even genocide. Hitler’s impact has not completely disappeared from Germany—or other nations for that matter—and a close monitoring is required.

The German laws do not favor immigration. As Michael Haltzel has pointed out in the Los Angeles Times, almost anyone can seek asylum in Germany, but citizenship can only be gained through ancestry of German blood. John Marks pointed out the irony in U.S. News & World Report when he noted that citizenship can be withheld indefinitely from a Turk who has lived decades in Germany, paid taxes dutifully and speaks perfect German. Or it can be granted in a flash to a Russian of German descent whose forefathers left 300 years earlier but who can’t even order a beer in the native tongue. The Human Rights Office based in New York found that the high number of anti-foreign violent incidents in Germany is directly related to the racial nature of that nation’s citizenship law.

Unfortunately it cannot always be determined who are the perpetrators of murders, arson crimes and other acts of violence against Turkish people: Who is responsible, Germans or Kurds? Some Germans have been arrested and prosecuted, others incite or approve of hatred in a variety of ways. But the Workers’ Party of Kurdistan (PKK), characterized as “a Stalinist sect and guerrilla movement” which was founded 20 years ago, has identified Germany as a “second front,” the main front being the conflict with Turkey, with the added problems in Iraq and Iran.

The situation seems unresolvable if there is no Kurdish state. A large part of the Kurdish population is in a condition of diaspora which exacerbates the situation. It is no doubt true, as German author Claus Leggewie has written, that the PKK does what it can to radicalize ethnic contrast. He says that “with its sectarian, Maoist guerrilla ideology, the PKK represents only a small percentage of Kurdish immigrants. Yet it has succeeded in making itself the loudest voice of the Kurdish people, seizing the lead from the intellectuals in exile and the ethnic self-help groups.”

So what is to be done? What can Germany do to reduce the civil strife between people who are regarded as non-Germans? Unfortunately we are asked here to find a solution to a problem rather than to prevent one. The approaches are clearly different. We can criticize Germany for the social upheaval following unification which fostered intolerance toward foreigners, as Daniel Benjamin observed in Time magazine. Jacob Heilbrunn, in The New Republic, indicted Chancellor Kohl for failing to act quickly and authoritatively before violence escalated, and the Helsinki Watch blames the German government for failing to protect the rights of refugees.

I was in Munich four years before the ill-fated Olympic Games took place. German women and men were happy to proclaim that while it was estimated that it would require 10 years to get the city in shape for the world sporting event, the job would be done on time, in four years. One of the major reasons was because much Turkish help was being imported. And, of course, the goal was achieved.

Years later I participated in a peace march in Berlin in which hundreds of thousands of people took part. Many were of foreign origin. I could not help wondering how many were not just admitted but recruited, urged to come, to help build the Olympic Village, for example. Were their men and women, their children, even grandchildren, no longer useful in the way they once were? They marched, many wanted to love Germany. But unrequited love can be very painful.

In 1993, Germany abrogated a constitutional right to political asylum. It had been the most liberal in Europe. The Economist of London insisted that “the undertone is patently racist.” That same article noted that “Germany is giving money to Poland, the Czech Republic and Slovakia to help them patrol their borders more strictly.”

Whatever solution we conclude with regarding suggestions for improving the situation will have to begin with a more tolerant, mature society. If this were a debate, the topic might be “Resolved, that modern Germany is an intolerant nation.” I would prefer not to take the negative side of that question.

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