AN

AMERICAN JEWISH – GERMAN INFORMATION &

OPINION NEWSLETTER

AMERICAN EDITION

August 11, 2010

Dear Friends:

It is, indeed, the time of the late summer doldrums. As per my last edition, the
Chancellor is on vacation until September and much in Germany is “on hold”.
The deaths at the Love Parade in Duisberg because of seemingly terrible
planning and the floods in the eastern part of Germany near the Polish border
have grabbed most of the headlines.

There was a poll which showed that if the national election was held today the
coalition of the Social Dems and the Greens might be able to dislodge the
CDU/CSU – Free Dems from the government leadership. However, the next
national election isn’t until 2013. I’ve asked a few German friends whether the
CDU might ease Chancellor Merkel out if her government remained unpopular.
The unanimous reply was “No way!” There really isn’t any senior figure to take
her place and, besides, she’s still the top person in the party.

The Defense Minister has been talking about doing away with the draft and
making the German military “all professional”. The wind seems to be blowing in
that direction. This is a complicated question. Of course, we here in the U.S.
don’t get a vote but would we be happy with an all professional German army?
The Bundeswehr is not the Wehrmacht and we should keep that in mind as well
as the fact they are part of NATO, but…. We’ll talk more about it as the situation
moves along – especially if it moves toward professionalization.

However, we have time for that so let’s get on to the more current news.

IN THIS EDITION

THE (GERMAN) EXPELLEES – Who are they? What are their political
objectives? What sort of power do they have?

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EEAS – EUROPEAN EXTERNAL ACTION SERVICE – They’re not a commando
group but their impact will far greater than any strike force.

THE HAMBURG MOSQUE – It took the Germans a long time but they finally
padlocked this terrorist nest.

IRAN & GERMAN INDUSTRY – A leaky boycott. Ways of getting around it.

COMMENTS OR QESTIONS Click here

THE (GERMAN) EXPELLEES

(Wikipedia)The later stages of World War II, and the period after the end of that
war, saw the flight and forced migration of millions of German nationals
(Reichsdeutsche) and ethnic Germans (Volksdeutsche) from various European
states and territories, mostly into the areas which would become post-war
Germany and post-war Austria. These areas included pre-war German provinces
which were transferred to Poland and the Soviet Union after the war, as well as
areas which Nazi Germany had annexed or occupied in pre-war Poland,
Czechoslovakia, Hungary, Romania, northern Yugoslavia and other states of
Central and Eastern Europe.

The movement of Germans involved a total of at least 12 million people, with

some sources putting the figure at 14 million, and was the largest movement or
transfer of any single ethnic population in modern history. The largest numbers
came from the former eastern territories of Germany acquired by Poland and the
Soviet Union (about 7 million) and from Czechoslovakia (about 3 million). It was
also the largest among all the post-war expulsions in Central and Eastern
Europe, which displaced more than twenty million people in total. The events
have been variously described as population transfer, ethnic cleansing or
democide.

Many deaths were attributable to the flight and expulsions, with estimates
ranging from 500,000 to 2 million, where the higher figures include deaths from
famine and disease as well as from violent acts. Many German civilians were
also sent to internment and labor camps.

In the years following the war an organization of expellees was formed

(Federation of Expellees). The German government agreed in 2008 to create a
“visible symbol” against flight and expulsion in Berlin. The main element will be a
documentation center that provides a historical overview of flight, expulsion and
integration from World War II until the present day in Germany and Europe. The
museum is to be conceived by the federal government’s Flight, Expulsion and

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Reconciliation Foundation, which will be a part of the German Historical Museum
in Berlin.(Wikipedia)

So, what’s the problem?

Well, the organization has a very right wing seeming revanchist view of politics.
What is that? Wikipedia notes, “Revanchism (from French: revanche, "revenge")
is a term used since the 1870s to describe a political manifestation of the will to
reverse territorial losses incurred by a country, often following a war.
Revanchism draws its strength from patriotic and retributionist thought and is
often motivated by economic or geo-political factors. Extreme revanchist
ideologues often represent a hawkish stance, suggesting that desired objectives
can be achieved through the positive outcome of another war.

Revanchism is linked with irredentism, the conception that a part of the cultural
and ethnic nation remains "unredeemed" outside the borders of its appropriate
nation-state. Revanchist politics often rely on the identification of a nation with a
nation-state, often mobilizing deep-rooted sentiments of ethnic nationalism,
claiming territories outside of the state where members of the ethnic group live,
while using heavy-handed nationalism to mobilize support for these aims.
Revanchist justifications are often presented as based on ancient or even
autochthonous occupation of a territory since "time immemorial", an assertion
that is usually inextricably involved in revanchism and irredentism, justifying them
in the eyes of their proponents.

You don’t have to be a European expert or a Ph.D.in political science to figure

out where revanchism carried out to its logical conclusion would lead German
politics. Recently, two new members of the League of Expellees (LoE), Mssrs.
Toelg and Saenger were appointed to their Board.. Toelg said that “…those who
speak about forced labor during World War II also have to make clear "that
especially those countries which are particularly vehement in their reparation
demands are hardly free of blame because they had hundreds of thousands of
German forced laborers in countless camps." And: "While the German war
criminals were rightly convicted by victor countries in Nuremberg, the same
countries perpetrated crimes similar to those of Hitler's Germany when it comes
to forced labor." Saenger refused to make any comments.

The growing scandal surrounding the two is far from the first time the League of
Expellees has been suspected of harboring revanchist tendencies. Erika
Steinbach, a parliamentarian with Chancellor Angela Merkel's Christian
Democrats (CDU) in Berlin and head of the League of Expellees, is heartily
disliked by Poles for her 1991 refusal to recognize the Oder-Neisse line as
Poland's western border with Germany, though she has since backed away from
that position. She also publicly opposed Poland's accession to the European
Union. Indeed, controversy surrounding Steinbach's own possible appointment to
the board of the Berlin expellee museum consumed the CDU at the beginning of

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the year.

Claudia Roth, co-head of the Green Party, told SPIEGEL ONLINE on Tuesday
that both Saenger and Tölg "are not suitable to … furthering reconciliation with
our neighbors." Her comments echoed those of Raphael Gross, the director of
the Jewish museum in Frankfurt and a member of the expert commission
advising those behind the expellee museum project. Gross said that the
positions held by Saenger and Tölg "positively mock" the museum project's
stated goal of reconciliation.

What’s all the fuss about? It’s mostly about Germany’s soul and how it will look at
its role in World War II and the Holocaust in the future. Of course, the re-writing
of history is still an absolute taboo in Germany, That’s not to say that some sort
of event couldn’t change the situation. The sense of responsibility that Germany
now feels could slowly dissipate as we move further from the cataclysmic events
of the mid-20th Century. That would be a catastrophe for Germany and not very
good for the rest of the world – let alone Israel & the Jews. There are no other
real signs of revanchism at present other than among the neo-Nazi extremists.
However, the expellee groups merit continued study and evaluation – especially
for Germany’s own well being.

EEAS – EUROPEAN EXTERNAL ACTION SERVICE

One of the German readers of my newsletter sent me an e-mail containing “…

lists of dates especially concerning foreign and European affairs”. Hidden in the
listing was one for “Beginning of December 2010” which noted, “European Action
Service is taking up its operations”. If that name isn’t a familiar one, it is what the
new EU Foreign Office staff will be called.

According to an October 27, 2009 European Parliament article on “External

Relations”, “One of the innovations of the new Lisbon Treaty is the creation of a
new European External Action Service (EEAS), intended as a diplomatic corps
that will oversee not only Europe's huge aid and humanitarian budget but also
relations with countries around the world. At the head of this will be the EU's high
representative for foreign affairs and security policy who will also be a European
Commission Vice-President. (Ed. Note – Lady Catherine Ashton)

It is expected to include 130 existing Commission delegations, which will become

"EU delegations" and will be staffed by civil servants from the Commission, the
Council of the European Union and national foreign ministries.

They will be answerable to the High Representative with the aim of increasing
the impact and coherence of the EU's foreign policy. It could also go a long way
to solving the dilemma posed by former US Secretary of State Henry Kissinger
who asked "who should I call?" when looking for European diplomats.”

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The EP resolution also says the EEAS should complement the diplomatic
services of EU States rather than replacing them.

Moreover it recommends "that political agreement be reached with Parliament on

all issues at an early stage in order to avoid valuable time being wasted on
political controversies about the form to be taken by the EEAS after the entry into
force of the Treaty of Lisbon".

Wikipedia has a very thorough article on the EEAS

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/European_External_Action_Service

The Wikipedia article notes that the EEAS would be made up of 1100 staff
members. I have heard (probably somewhat exaggerated) the 6,000 or 7,000
numbers mentioned. I am told that professionals in the German Foreign Service
are already lining up to be considered for EEAS staff positions. No matter what
the number is, like all government units, they tend to grow with time, compete
with others for importance and if blessed with dynamic leadership gain power
and influence. The EEAS is no exception.

I have spoken to some of my German friends about the EEAS and the High
Commissioner. Not only are they not worried about the development of an
organization that might pre-empt German foreign policy they are ecstatic about it.
It fits perfectly into the desire of many Germans to Europeanize everything. I
believe that this sort of feeling runs deep in the minds and hearts of the
governing elite. Wrapping up Germany in Euro-swaddling remains a strong policy
direction for many even though the latest financial problems of Greece and Spain
may have begun to dent that somewhat. No matter what, the EEAS is ready to
take off.

Obviously; the establishment of an EU Foreign Service has considerable

implications for AJC, the Jewish community in general and, of course, Israel. As I
have pointed out in DuBow Digest on several occasions, a sizeable “civil service”
unit under the direct command of the EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs
and Security Policy immediately becomes a “player” in international matters.
Under the command of Lady Catherine Ashton, considering her record thus far
with her constant criticism of Israel makes the establishment of the EEAS even
more of a problem.

The key question is whether German foreign policy which in the past has been
very pro-Israel affect EU policy or will the EU policy, as far as the Middle East is
concerned, water down German policy. We’ll just have to wait and see. Stay
tuned!

THE HAMBURG MOSQUE

Without all the media attention in New York focused on whether a mosque

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could/should be built close to “Ground Zero”, the Germans took care of one in
Hamburg where there was a clear record of terrorist development

The Local.de recently reported, “German police on Monday shut a mosque in the
northern city of Hamburg frequented by suicide hijackers from the September 11,
2001 attacks and suspected of recruiting jihadists, the authorities said. An
affiliated cultural centre was also banned.

"Hamburg must not become a cradle of violent Islamists," the city-state's Interior
Minister Christoph Ahlhaus told reporters.

"We closed the Taiba mosque today because young men were converted to
religious fanatics there. A purported cultural association shamelessly exploited
the freedoms of our democratic state under the rule of law to recruit for holy war
behind the scenes."

Three of the September 11 hijackers including their ringleader Mohammed Atta,

who piloted the first plane into New York's World Trade Center, met regularly at
the mosque before moving to the United States.

The prayer house was known as Al-Quds until two years ago.

Authorities said it served for several years as a recruitment centre for fellow
jihadists, including accomplices of the hijackers, and offered logistical and
financial assistance to Islamic militants.

Twenty police officers searched the mosque and homes of the association's
leaders in the early-morning raid and confiscated funds from the group.

"We have finally put an end to the spectre behind the walls on Steindamm," said
Ahlhaus, referring to the street where the mosque is located.

The mosque, with about 45 members, was still the main meeting point for Islamic
extremists in the city, according to Hamburg authorities.

A group of 10 men from the mosque travelled to Pakistan or Afghanistan in

March last year, probably to attend militant training camps, security officials said.

At least one of the men joined the radical Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan in
Pakistan and later appeared in a German-language propaganda video for the
group in which he called for Muslims to take part in holy war.

"The association continuously promoted jihadist, aggressive and anti-democratic

ideology and religious views in recent years," Ahlhaus said.

"We do not tolerate organisations that are levelled against the constitutional

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order and the idea of understanding between cultures in an aggressive, militant
way. But I underline that these measures are not targeted against the majority of
the peace-loving, law-abiding Muslims in Hamburg."

Ahlhaus said the association had a sophisticated programme of courses,

sermons, seminars and online publications to whip up hatred of "non-believers."

Germany, which opposed the 2003 US-led invasion of Iraq but has some 4,500
troops in Afghanistan, has beefed up security and surveillance in response to the
threat of attacks on its own soil.

In March, four Islamic militants, including two German converts to Islam, who
dreamed of mounting "a second September 11" were jailed for a thwarted plot to
attack US soldiers and civilians in Germany.

There is not a seeming parallel between the Hamburg and New York situations.
The NY mosque hasn’t even been built as yet while the one in Hamburg has a
long record of having a terrorist connection. However, there seems to be little
doubt that the heat is being turned up all over the Western World to reign in
radical Islamists with non-radicals frequently being caught in the widely thrown
net. In the Hamburg case the authorities seemed to have executed a well thought
out plan of action after a very long period of observation. I hope that whatever
actions are taken in such cases here in the U.S. they have the same amount of
thought and legality exercised.

IRAN & GERMAN INDUSTRY

In the last edition, as I had done several times previously, I wrote about
Chancellor Merkel’s strong support of the boycott imposed upon Iran. Like with
all such government actions there are always business people who try to get
around the rules so that they continue to do business and make profits. There is
no question that certain German firms (as well as, I’m sure, American and others)
have found ways to do just that.

The Jerusalem Post (Ben Weinthal) recently reported, “Customs at Frankfurt

airport found a delivery of Siemens AG equipment that was headed to Iran,
German weekly Der Spiegel reported on Saturday night.

The switches, components and computer modules, manufactured by the German

engineering giant, were allegedly headed for Moscow in June, and from there
would be sent to the nuclear reactor at Bushehr, despite EU sanctions on Iran.

German customs told Der Spiegel that since late 2009, about half a dozen
deliveries to Iran were caught leaving Frankfurt, from three German companies
other than Siemens.

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Siemens AG announced in January, at its annual stockholder meeting, that it is
severing its business ties with Iran. Stop the Bomb, a pro-Israel NGO in Austria
and Germany, had mounted a sophisticated yearlong pressure campaign to
force Siemens to shut down its Iran operation.

The decision to pull the plug on new contracts with Teheran took place a day
before the 65th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz. Siemens exploited
slave labor during WWII in Auschwitz.

"Beginning in the middle of this year [2010] we will not accept new business with
Iran," Siemens CEO Peter Löscher said at the shareholder meeting in Munich.

Siemens is too big and important to get itself caught up in a stupid violation of the
German Government’s stated boycott even though I’m sure that there are
elements in the company as well as the government that wouldn’t mind (and
probably don’t mind) finding ways to get around it. Third country shipments, it
seems to me, would be the hardest to identify. If that’s the case there are
probably four country shipments working their way east as I write.

It’s not clear at this moment what Berlin is doing about it. What I can tell you is
that representations are being made to the German Foreign Office. We’ll keep an
eye on it for you.

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