AN AMERICAN JEWISH GERMAN INFORMATION & OPINION NEWSLETTER

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AMERICAN EDITION July 9, 2013 Dear Friends: Germany is in its Urlaub (vacation) hiatus. The Bundestag members have hightailed it out of Berlin for most of the summer in order to rest up in anticipation of the national election which comes up in late September. Though Germanys economic situation remains relatively strong, many of the EU countries show continued lack of growth, deep unemployment and burdensome debt. This has its effect on the Germans as well. There is little question that Germany is Europes leader but that situation does not appear inviting to them. The Economist refers to it as Europes reluctant hegemon. It could be stronger in many more ways than it is, but their history tells them to stay away from undertaking such a role. Their two attempts in the 20 th Century almost led them to the undertakers and theyre not about to try a third shot at it. That should not make the rest of the world unhappy. Even at this time of sluggish warm weather activity things are still happening. So, lets get on with the news IN THIS EDITION THE MOLOCH MESS & MALESTROM Dont know what a Moloch is? Try a new way of being anti-Israel and anti-Semitic Thats it! You got it! SPYING No one likes it. Everyone does it. Everyone is horrified. No one stops doing it. THE OBAMA SPEECH If there was a Wall or a war it would have been better. 1

THE ELECTION It doesnt look close but remember, its parties, not individuals that count. GRASS (NOT WEED) & MERKEL The SPD must be smoking that stuff to include Gunther as an election icon. NAZI ART & THE MUSEUMS To show or not to show. That is the question. FINDERS KEEPERS? - Who does art looted by the Nazis belong to?

THE MOLOCH MESS & MALESTROM When a well-respected German daily prints a cartoon that is disgustingly anti-Israel and reeks of anti-Semitism one would not expect it to pass by without comment. | It didnt! It got plenty! JTA reported, A cartoon purportedly showing Israel as a greedy Moloch, published in a major German daily, has set off a firestorm of protest, despite an apology by the newspaper. [Ed. Note: If youre not too sure about Moloch, he was an ancient god to which children were sacrificed.] Artist Ernst Kahl said he was shocked to learn that the Sueddeutsche Zeitung daily newspaper used his drawing of a greenish, horned monster being served breakfast in bed by a pale, plump maid - originally created for the German gourmet magazine Der Feinschmecker - to illustrate a review of two new books on Israel, according to German news reports. Heiko Flottaus review, with the headline The Decline of Liberal Zionism, dealt with American author Peter Beinarts book, whose title in German translates to The American Jews and Israel. What is going wrong, and German TV journalist Werner Sonnes book Raison dtat? Germanys Liability for Israels Security. The article appeared in the prominent papers July 2 edition. Under the lurid illustration, the caption reads, Germany at your service. For decades, Israel has been provided with weapons, partly free of charge. Israels enemies consider the country to be a voracious Moloch. Peter Beinert regrets that its gotten this far. One day after the article came out, Editor Franziska Augstein issued a statement that the publication of the illustration in this context was a mistake. Dieter Graumann, head of the Central Council of Jews in Germany, decried the use of 2

the image. Likewise, Jewish columnist Henryk Broder, in his commentary in German daily newspaper Die Welt, compared the drawing to the infamous Sturmer caricatures published by rabid anti-Semite Julius Streicher during the Third Reich. The Simon Wiesenthal Center also has weighed in. Rabbi Abraham Cooper, associate dean of the Los Angeles based organization, blasted the illustration in a comment to the Jerusalem Post. Deidre Berger, head of the Germany office of American Jewish Committee, lodged a complaint with the German Press Council over the pairing of the article with the drawing, and Israels ambassador to Germany, Yakov Hadas-Handelsman protested in a letter to the papers editor in chief, Kurt Kister. Meanwhile, artist Kahl told Germanys main Jewish weekly, theJdische Allgemeine, that his illustration for the gourmet magazine was among his drawings that had been available for use by the Sueddeutsche Zeitung. But he said he wished the Sueddeutsche editors had asked him before using it in this context. I would have absolutely said no, he told the Allgemeine r. The matter might have passed with a few negative comments had not Deidre Berger lodged her complaint. Being a former journalist herself (NPR Correspondent in Germany) she knew exactly to whom to complain. GPR hit the nail on the head. Of course, Deidres complaint and other critical stories raised questions about the editor of the Sueddeutsche Zeitung, Franziska Augstein. An interesting piece by Petra Marquardt-Bigman in The Algemeiner noted, like many members of the German elite, Augstein apparently prefers to believe that even the harshest and most unfair criticism singling out the worlds only Jewish state is not antisemitic. One doesnt have to look far for another example, because it was exact ly this kind of criticism that got her half-brother Jakob Augstein a place on the Simon Wiesenthal Centers list of prominent antisemites in 2012. Given this fondness for the unfair double standards used to make Israel into a repulsive monster, it is hardly surprising when an intelligent and highly educated German media professional plays dumb and insists that there is nothing wrong with depicting the Jewish state as a grotesque greedy Moloch if this reflects the view of Israels enemies. Of course, Nazi publications like Der Strmer also depicted Jews as utterly repulsive creatures only because that reflected their view of the Jews who, the Nazis felt, made the Germans serve them, voraciously taking advantage of German good nature to continuously expand their evil power and influence. Some Germans, it seems, still have the feeling that they are forced to serve the Jews, who are now busy with continuously expanding their borders and abusing their considerable power to threaten their innocent neighbors with totally unwarranted attacks. In short: once it was the Jews who were only up to evil, now it is the Jewish state It is very difficult to get inside ones mind and emotions. I do not think its right to accuse someone of being an anti-Semite especially in Germany if the record is not entirely 3

clear. It is the worst kind of accusation. However, what sort of words can one conjure up to cover the kind of mistake that a highly educated, experienced journalist like Dr. Augstein made in this case? Im at a loss. To read the entire article by Petra Marquardt-Bigman click here. http://www.algemeiner.com/2013/07/03/dumb-and-dumber-about-antisemitism-ingermany/ SPYING: Nobody is happy to find out that theyre being spied on. When a country becomes aware that even a friendly nation is doing the spying the public posture has to be outrage! Thats necessary to show the voting public that you dont take this kind of illegal invasion lightly even if your own country is doing the exact same thing (though maybe not to the same degree) to other countries. Its a political necessity to show the home folks that youre safeguarding them (and their secrets) and, also, to ward off attacks from your internal political enemies. In addition, there has to be some show of support for your counter intelligence agents to show that theyre not totally incompetent. Thats what happening between Germany and the U.S. DW reported, Germany has said the United States must work towards restoring trust, following reports that US intelligence agencies spied on EU institutions. A spokesman said the government learnt of the news with 'great displeasure.' The comments come following a report on Sunday from Germany's Der Spiegel magazine, which said the US National Security Agency (NSA) had bugged EU offices in Washington, New York and Brussels. Germany responded to the reports with shock on Monday, with the government summoning the US ambassador in Berlin to a meeting. Government spokesman, Steffen Seibert, said the government learned of the report "with astonishment, better said with great displeasure, which was conveyed to the White House at the weekend." Seibert said the message from Berlin was that Washington needed to work towards restoring trust. The allegations came to light almost two weeks after a widely-praised visit to Berlin by US President Barack Obama. "Europe and the United States are partners, our friends, are allies. Trust must be the basis of our cooperation and trust must be restored in this area," Seibert told reporters on Monday. "This is not the Cold War anymore," he added. Seibert pointed out that "as a basic point, reports are not automatically facts and so we need to get to the bottom of this."

"But if it is true that EU institutions and individual EU countries were spied on then we must say that bugging friends is unacceptable," said Seibert.
Spiegel On-Line reported, While the Chancellery appears to be outraged by the NSA's

spying tactics in Germany, the opposition doubts the revelations came as a surprise to Angela Merkel. Just how much could she have known? German Chancellor Angela Merkel will have to be pretty clear with US President Barack Obama the next time she has him on the line. At least that's a reasonable assumption, based on the anger she has expressed about American spying operations in the European Union and Germany. "I demand an explanation, Barack," the chancellor might say. After all, the president eloquently defended the Prism program on his recent visit to Berlin, but the Americans' bugging, electronic eavesdropping and excessive data collection from allied European countries, which came to light this weekend, was not part of the conversation. Merkel is said to be quite rankled. But others say that the chancellor will probably be friendly to Obama during their next talk, and not because this is what diplomatic conventions call for, even amid tensions. No, it's because there is some question as to whether Berlin's dismay about the espionage by the National Security Agency (NSA) is really as great as it claims. Could some of the indignation be feigned? Did the revelations really shock the chancellor? And if it did come as a surprise, has German counterintelligence failed miserably? The opposition doesn't believe that Merkel was unaware of the situation. In an editorial for the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung this week, Sigmar Gabriel, chairman of the center-left Social Democratic Party (SPD), openly aired the suspicion that Merkel was familiar with at least some of the spying activity. The government has vehemently rejected this accusation as crude campaign bluster. This isn't totally unjust -- the opposition has seized on the opportunity to portray Merkel as a traitor to citizens' freedoms, a strategy that could gain support among a population particularly sensitive to data protection issues. One reason that the Government reply might be muted is that it appears that they themselves receive important information from the U.S. spying operation. A DW article reported, Public outcry has emerged over British and American monitoring of global communications. But the German government has so far been reserved in its criticism, partly because the country receives data from such monitoring. "Merkel has reason to limit her criticism on the topic. Although the fact that large parts of Internet communication are being monitored was known necessarily known to the general public, the chancellor was unlikely to have been surprised. German spies have also been sniffing around online - and on a large scale, not just in cases of concrete suspicion. The German Federal Intelligence Service (BND) is legally 5

allowed to rifle through up to 20 percent of the communication between Germany and other countries, and monitor certain Internet search terms. Compared to the US National Security Agency (NSA) and the British Government Communications Headquarters (GCHQ), however, Germany's intelligence service is weak. German Intelligence Service expert Erich Schmidt-Eenboom said the scope of the personnel responsible for data make this clear. "The NSA has 60,000 workers and also employs many external firms, while experts estimate that altogether 15,000 people work for the GCHQ," Schmidt-Eenboom said. He pointed out that, in contrast, the external electronic message department of the BND includes about 1,500 workers. Since intelligence services of allied nations share information with each other particularly in the field of terror defense - Germany also profits from the eavesdropping measures of the US and Great Britain. This is especially the case with regard to German citizens, who are largely protected from the BND by a ban on gathering information within Germany. The German Constitutional Protection Office is responsible for any domestic spying, and even stricter national privacy regulations apply to it. "Of course, it can't be ruled out that American intelligence services have gained information through means we are not aware of and wouldn't use in Germany," said Hartfried Wolff, a center-right parliamentarian and member of the control committee, in an interview with DW. So, now the worst kept intelligence secret is out everybody spies on everybody. Of course there has to be anger, outrage and the pointing of fingers between countries. However, down deep the real anger is focused on the whistle blower who upsets this secret (and necessary) inter-nation agreement. Spying is a national security imperative and besides, it keeps Allan Furst and John Le Carre in business turning out great spy stories. BTW, I noticed that the EU-U. S. trade talks weathered the furor over the spying controversy and are going forward. After all is said and one The business of business is business.

THE OBAMA SPEECH By this time its ancient history! In this world of instant total information what happened a few weeks ago is usually relegated to the history books or, at least the Week in Review columns on the back pages of your daily newspaper. It has completely disappeared from your computer. 6

If our President had been standing in front of the Brandenburg Gate at a time of international crisis his speech might have been of critical importance. But this is not a time of Tear down this Wall Mr. Gorbachev or Ich bin ein Berliner. With both the Wall and the USSR gone and the relationship between the U.S. and Germany about as good as it can get (in spite of the spying matter), no matter how brilliant the Presidents speech was, it was destined for a quick trip to the archives section. Of course, he had to say something so he focused on reducing the number of nuclear weapons nations should have. O.K., thats important but no one in Germany or the U.S. feels any threat from nuclear devastation at the moment. The German press, of course, had to say something and being a wordy and highly intelligent bunch they were able to grind out a presentable report. For instance, Der Spiegel International reported, US President Barack Obama managed to achieve his primary goal during his one-day visit to Berlin on Wednesday: charming his hosts. But German commentators argue he was unable to bridge a growing gap between the two countries. He. managed to remind Germans why they are such big fans of this president. Even if Tuesday and Wednesday marked the first time Obama had visited Berlin as president -after fully five years in office -- he was able to make it seem as though Germany and the Germans were near and dear to him. He casually embraced German President Joachim Gauck, he referred to German Chancellor Merkel as simply "Angela" and he quickly took off his jacket at the beginning of his keynote speech in the blazing sun, saying: "We can be a little more informal among friends." The audience ate it up. Sure there is concern in the country about Obama's drone attacks in Afghanistan and Pakistan. There is widespread disgust with the mindboggling extent of online surveillance undertaken by the National Security Agency. There is also a good bit of disillusionment stemming from Obama's inability to close down the Guantanamo detention camp. The US president was asked about all of those issues during his stay in Berlin. But Germans like nothing better than to be taken seriously -- and they are open to being charmed. Obama made a convincing show of doing both. He avoided subjects that might be difficult for his hosts, shying away from asking Germany to supply weapons to Syrian rebels and avoiding mention of Berlin's abstention on the United Nations Security Council vote to intervene in Libya. In his speech, which focused heavily on history, he even managed to turn World War II and the Holocaust into a rhetorical side note. Instead, he opted to focus on nuclear arms reduction. One could, of course, see his decision to highlight such an issue -- one that everybody can agree on -- as an indication that the US does not see Germany as a foreign policy partner when it comes to more controversial issues. But coming from a president that most in Germany 7

continue to revere despite the shortcomings that have by now become obvious to all, Berliners were more apt to see the logic of proposing cuts to the nuclear arsenal in a city so marked by the Cold War. That, of course, was Obama's intention. And he left the city having achieved the primary goal of his visit -- that of putting a feel-good coat of paint on a trans-Atlantic relationship that had recently begun to show its age. Not all the reporting was happy. Die Welt opined, ...The indifference with which Obama was received is not an indication that Germans don't like Obama anymore. ... Rather, the American president himself signaled with all of his appearances on Wednesday that the moral and emotional chapter of the Cold War is finished. We are now getting into the fine print." "America has become more foreign to us, too, and it doesn't help to evoke the great period of bonding during the Cold War. But Europeans have also become more foreign to Americans. How should Americans know and understand that which we ourselves don't know or understand? There is still a great lack of clarity about where the partially unified, partially divided continent of Europe is headed politically I think that pretty much covers the spectrum of opinion. There is more but I think the above quotes summarize the presidential trip fairly well. To read the rest click here. http://www.spiegel.de/international/world/german-press-reactions-to-us-presidentobama-berlin-visit-a-906894.html I would put the Berlin expedition as good, but not important, when it came to critical issues. They just were not dealt with. The Obama family visited The Holocaust Memorial and that got some coverage. Perhaps the visit was of some importance to Chancellor Merkel who is running for reelection in September. However, surveying the polls, etc. she doesnt seem to need much help was of little real assistance. Keep reading

THE ELECTION Back in the middle of June, The Local.de reported, It's been a tough few days for Social Democrat chancellor candidate Peer Steinbrck [Ed. Note: Running against Chancellor Merkel]. At the weekend he made headlines for crying at a party event and just three months before the election, support for his party is at an all-year low. Support for the center-left Social Democrats is now at 22 percent, lower than in 2009, when they suffered their last heavy election defeat, a poll carried out by the Forsa Institute for Social Research and Statistical Analysis revealed on Wednesday. 8

Merkel's conservative Christian Democrats and its Bavarian sister party, on the other hand, are riding on a solid 40 percent. Merkel's pro-business junior coalition partner, the Free Democrats have inched up to six percent, clearing the crucial five percent hurdle necessary to get into parliament. A potential but unlikely coming-together of the Social Democrats, the Green Party and the Left Party still trails a percentage point behind the current Christian Democrat and Free Democratic coalition. The newly-formed anti-euro Alternative for Germany party (Alternative fr Deutschland) has failed to steal much support from the Christian Democrats, contrary to what some analysts had predicted. Along with the pro-internet freedom Pirate Party, it has garnered just two percent support. Reports of strife between Steinbrck and party leader Sigmar Gabriel have done little to inspire confidence in the party. And Steinbrck's communication style, which has at times been called belligerent, has done him no favours either. That said, standing against Merkel is a daunting task for even the most polished politician. Her unflappable style, and what's perceived in Germany as smooth handling of the euro crisis, convey an image of calm in the face of volatile global financial markets and soaring unemployment elsewhere in Europe. If Germans could vote directly for their chancellor, 58 percent would choose Merkel, while just 18 percent would vote for Steinbrck There are still three months to go before the German election but the history of German polling is that once the polls have solidified they dont move much,. If the Social Democrats had a great candidate there would be more of a question about the outcome. However, Steinbruck is no Bill Clinton or Barack Obama. With his own party in disarray well, you know where to put your money. However, I dont want to totally discount him. The SPD has picked up on the spying issue and is riding that. It does have some legs. Whether it can carry the party into the middle of September is another story. Stay tuned!

GRASS (NOT WEED) & MERKEL If you are going to be criticized by someone and that someone wants to make the criticism stick, the criticizer should be careful that he (or she) has a clean slate on the subject in question. This time around it didnt happen and the criticizer wound up with egg on his face. 9

Spiegel On-Line reported, Nobel laureate Gnter Grass has become a master at stepping on his tongue lately. This week, he did it again, casting aspersions about Chancellor Merkel's East German past. Critics have blasted Grass, pointing to the author's own prior membership in the SS. Grass is no longer the moral authority that he once was. Ever since 2006, when he admitted to having been a member of Hitler's feared SS as a 17-year-old, his words have lost much of their weight -- and his benefit to the SPD has become questionable. In a Wednesday appearance with this year's SPD candidate for chancellor, Peer Steinbrck, Grass took it upon himself to blast Chancellor Angela Merkel and, in a verbal assault not without irony, to criticize her past as a member of the East German youth organization FDJ, the Communist Party's version of the Boy and Girl Scouts. Grass' comments, to be sure, are hardly of the scandalous variety. A recent book, after all, went even further, suggesting that Merkel may have been closer to the communist apparatus of East Germany than previously thought. But given Grass' own past, and the fact that he was speaking at an SPD event, Merkel's conservatives proved unable to resist the urge to attack. To have Grass on his side is just another nail being hammered into Peer Steinbrucks political coffin. He should have stuck to the kind you smoke. You can read the whole story by clicking here. http://www.spiegel.de/international/germany/guenter-grass-criticizes-merkel-eastgerman-history-a-908375.html

NAZI ART & THE MUSEUMS I think it's well known that during the Nazi period in Germany "decadent" art was destroyed or confiscated and a new form developed. (Wikipedia) The Nazis viewed the culture of the Weimar period with disgust. Their response stemmed partly from conservative aesthetics and partly from their determination to use culture as propaganda. Upon becoming dictator in 1933, Adolf Hitler gave his personal artistic preference the force of law to a degree rarely known before. In the case of Germany, the model was to be classical Greek and Roman art, seen by Hitler as an art whose exterior form embodied an inner racial ideal. It was, furthermore, to be comprehensible to the average man. This art was to be both heroic and romantic. Following World War II Nazi art disappeared and like many of the elements of Nazi life it was not talked about. Now, according to a DW article, "It's still a highly sensitive issue in Germany: What to do with art that was commissioned by the Nazis between 1933 and 1945. More German museums are beginning to confront their own role during the period. 10

Should Nazi art be exhibited? For a long time in post-war Germany, the answer was a clear and unequivocal no. Many people didn't want to deal with the propagandistic art of a murderous regime because it reminded them of their own complicity. Others didn't want it shown because they themselves had been victims of the Holocaust. Another argument for not publicly displaying Nazi art was that is was pure propaganda with no artistic value whatsoever. The result was that National Socialist art wasn't dealt with during the 1950s and 60s. Then, by the end of the 1960s, more people began to call for an open - and above all, scholarly - handling of such works. Exhibitions in Frankfurt, Munich, Essen, and Berlin provided a critical examination of Nazi art. Later, state museums began to investigate how their own regional institutions had behaved between 1933 and 1945 - often resulting in emotionally charged debates. Such debates ultimately crystallized around one question: Should this type of art be exhibited or locked away in depots? Currently, a new attitude towards Nazi art in Germany can be observed in the city of Wrzburg in south-eastern Germany. Over the past few weeks, around 90 works of art purchased by the city during the Nazi dictatorship have been on show as part of an exhibition titled "Tradition and Propaganda - a Review" at the Museum im Kulturspeicher. "Now there is a generation that is taking responsibility for an objective, sober handling of the subject. It's a generational shift and it can be applied to the whole issue of National Socialism in general," curator Bettina Kess told DW. It's no coincidence that the Bavarian city is choosing to deal with its past now. No other German community purchased, collected and exhibited as much art during the Third Reich as Wrzburg did. It is, Kess explained, "on the one hand a piece of regional history, on the other a sign of societal change far beyond the examination of art." The city leaders, Kess and her fellow campaigners refer to German historian Norbert Frei, who several years ago began calling for a new handling of the subject. "For most of us, the Hitler era is not a past we experienced, but history: History, not memory," wrote Frei in his 2009 book "1945 und wir" ("1945 and Us").

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He argued that not only a willingness to remember, but also to know, was necessary and he criticized the instrumentalization of the German culture of remembrance as part of the search for a political identity. There's more but by this time I'm sure you understand the issue and the questions it has raised. For me art is not the most important question its history and how it's handled is. If the showing and interpretations point out what can happen to art and culture in a dictatorship then I'm all for them. Anyway, it's useless to try and hide away the art of any period. It will come to the surface eventually. The more transparency and light shown upon what was produced in the 1930's and '40.s the better. There's really a great deal to be learned not only about art but what can befall a country and its culture when bad people come to power and the people acquiesce to their will..

FINDERS KEEPERS? Since Im on the subject of art, The New York Times ran an interesting article by Patricia Cohen about art stolen by the Nazis 70 or more years ago, the museums (many in the U.S.) that now (claim to) own the paintings and the attempts of relatives of the Nazi victims who are trying to retrieve ownership. Not until 1998, when 44 nations including the United States signed the groundbreaking Washington Principles on Nazi-Confiscated Art, did governments and museums formally embrace the idea that they have a special responsibility to repair the damage caused by the wholesale looting of art owned by Jews during the Third Reichs reign. Now, 15 years later, historians, legal experts and Jewish groups say that some American museums have backtracked on their pledge to settle Holocaust recovery claims on the merits, and have resorted instead to legal and other tactics to block survivors or their heirs from pursuing claims. In recent years judges have dismissed several cases after museums argued that recovery claims had been filed too late. In some of the cases, museums have tried to deter claimants from filing suit by beating them to the courthouse and asking judges to declare the museums the rightful owners. Critics also charge that museums have not followed their own guidelines, which urge them to be forthcoming with provenance information that could help people trace the history of a contested work of art. Of course, there are always two sides to a story. Both the Association of Art Museum Directors and the American Alliance of Museums 12

insist that their members consistently follow ethical guidelines requiring them to respond quickly and scrupulously to restitution requests. Christine Anagnos, executive director of the museum directors association, said its members were committed to resolving questions about the status of objects in their custody. Most cases, she said, are resolved through negotiation before claimants feel compelled to file suit. Museum officials also say they turn to procedural tactics like invoking time limits only after they have carefully researched a claim and concluded that it is unfounded . But Stuart E. Eizenstat, a former special State Department envoy who negotiated the Washington Principles, said museums have adopted a harder line in the last seven years or so, partly in response to some court victories by art institutions and waning pressure from the government. The essence of the Washington Principles comes down to one sentence, he said. Let decisions be made on the merits of the case rather than technical defenses. No one disputes that, even with databases that list looted art, it takes considerable effort and money to track artworks from Nazi-occupied countries, which typically have gaping holes in their provenance. There is also agreement that not all claims are valid, which requires that museum directors respond cautiously to safeguard their collections. Mr. Eizenstat is among those who have long argued that the courts are inherently ill suited to resolving restitution cases and that to avoid litigation the United States should create an independent mediation board, as several European countries have. This spring, a New York chapter of the Federal Bar Association put forward a resolution calling for the creation of an American commission along those lines. The article goes on to say that the establishment of such a board is unlikely even though, at least to me, it appears to be a sensible middle ground. However, with nothing like that likely, it looks as if well continue to have litigation for the foreseeable future. Not every story ends with a positive conclusion. To read the whole story click here. http://www.nytimes.com/2013/07/01/arts/design/museums-faulted-on-efforts-to-returnart-looted-by-nazis.html?emc=eta1 ************************************************************************************************* See you again in August. DuBow Digest is written and published by Eugene DuBow who can be contacted by clicking here. Both the American and Germany editions are posted at www.dubowdigest.typepad.com 13

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