Germany summons Iran envoy over Holocaust remarks

Reuters ^ | Fri Dec 9, 2005 6:21 PM ET | Louis Charbonneau

[Jean S]

BERLIN (Reuters) - The German Foreign Ministry said on Friday it had summoned Iran's ambassador to protest against suggestions by Iran's president that the Holocaust might not have happened and that Israel should be moved to Europe.

Ministry spokesman Martin Jaeger said at a government news conference the decision to deliver a formal protest to Iran's envoy in Berlin was meant to show that Berlin was taking the president's comments very seriously.

"We have summoned the Iranian ambassador," Jaeger told reporters. "When one summons an ambassador, then you signal the start of something in diplomacy, that there are grounds for serious discussion."

The remarks by President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, at a news conference in the Saudia Arabian city of Mecca, follow his call in October for Israel to be "wiped off the map", which sparked widespread international condemnation.

Six million Jews were killed in the Nazi Holocaust. Regarding this, Ahmadinejad was quoted by the official Iranian news agency IRNA as saying on Thursday:

"Although we don't accept this claim, if we suppose it is true, our question for the Europeans is: is the killing of innocent Jewish people by Hitler the reason for their support to the occupiers of Jerusalem?" he said.

"If the Europeans are honest they should give some of their provinces in Europe -- like in Germany, Austria or other countries -- to the Zionists and the Zionists can establish their state in Europe. You offer part of Europe and we will support it."

SANCTIONS

German Jewish leaders called for political sanctions against the Islamic republic over Ahmadinejad's remarks. Holocaust denial is a crime in Germany.

Paul Spiegel, head of the Jewish Council, told ARD television: "I telephoned the Chancellor (Angela Merkel) and made clear that the time for verbal comment is over. There now has to be action. The comments of this man, first a few weeks ago and again yesterday, are the worst I have heard...from a statesman since Adolf Hitler."

In another statement, he said Ahmadinejad had shown that he was not only a Holocaust-denier but a rabble-rouser.

"Political instruments ranging from political and economic sanctions to expulsion from the United Nations must finally be seriously looked at and used," he added.

Michel Friedman, chairman of the German chapter of the international Jewish organization Keren Hayesod, said Germany should begin by severing diplomatic ties with Tehran.

"A few weeks ago he said Israel should be destroyed. Now he denies and relativises the Holocaust. This can no longer be tolerated diplomatically. I call on the government ... to sever diplomatic ties with Iran," Friedman told N24 news television.

Germany is the biggest exporter to Iran.

[Cicero]

Germany is the biggest exporter to Iran.

Which will it be, money or conscience?

[funkywbr]

Yeah ya know what the Germans will say?

NIMfnBY!

[ml1954]

Uugh, you do know we really did do it, don't you?

[andysandmikesmom]

This article states that holocaust denial is a crime in Germany...this is something I was unaware of...

Many years ago, there was a lady who lived in our neighborhood...she was in her 30s, married to an American GI...they met while he was stationed in Germany, and she was a native German...she came to the USA with her husband and their son...and moved into our neighborhood...her son and my younger boy became friends...

One day, when this young boy was over at my house, he and my son were watching my older son, as he going through some books to prepare a report for school, on the Holocaust...my older boy was looking at the pics of the concentration camps and the dead in those camps...this little boy was horrified, and when my older boy explained what they were looking at this boy ran home, to tell his mom that my family was telling lies about Germans...

She came storming over to my house, demanding to know what was going on..when I explained to her about my older sons report on the Holocaust, she got very upset...apparently she had taught her son, that altho the Holocaust happened in some sort of very limited way, it was the Americans and others who lied and tried to expand the scope of the Holocaust...I asked her why she was trying to hide the truth...history is history, and should not be rewritten to spare ones feelings...what happened, happened, and nothing can change that...then she got really wild...did not want my older boy having those books in her sons presence...so I told her she could take her son, go home, tell him all the lies she cared to, but my children would learn the truth...she did not like that at all...

Now, I know as a German woman, she was sensitive to all this...and altho she never denied that the Holocaust happened, she actually acted as if it were some small thing, that happened to only a few hundred people..her parents were obviously old enough to lived through WW11 and to have know what was going on in Germany at the time...so altho they may not have denied the Holocaust, they certainly did have no trouble at all, denying its scope...

[WoofDog123]

"Paul Spiegel, head of the Jewish Council, told ARD television: "I telephoned the Chancellor (Angela Merkel) and made clear that the time for verbal comment is over. There now has to be action. The comments of this man, first a few weeks ago and again yesterday, are the worst I have heard...from a statesman since Adolf Hitler.""

It really is a quandry for the powers that be. You can bet that if iran just had a moderate govt germany and most of the world would just want to get along and do business as usual, but a guy who talks like this, has the cash flow Iran does, and the weapons he does, can ONLY be taken seriously.

At what point, if any, will germany and other western european countries be forced to forsake the economic interests of their multinationals for foreign policy reasons? As a further note, I would assume one concern is that once they do, iran will follow tit-for-tat in some other escalation, with regional war the logical result. This guy WANTS a war. I wonder if he hopes to force the west to start diplomatic separation on the path to war.

[bill1952]

"When one summons an ambassador, then you signal the start of something in diplomacy, that there are grounds for serious discussion."

Ooohhh. - Some nation has their collective panties in a bunch.

Iran is quaking in it's boots.

My, my, my. Major changes in Iran are about to occur.- Yeah, right.

[rightwingintelligentsia]

Good post. Given the events of the last few years, I have serious doubts that any European country has the fortitude to take any serious action, including curtailing any of their financial dealings with Iran.

[bill1952]

At what point, if any, will germany and other western european countries be forced to forsake the economic interests of their multinationals for foreign policy reasons?

LOL! Are you serious??

At that point where they would come begging, hat in hand, to President Bush, to supply all of the military muscle necessary to defeat Iran. - Which is to say, never.

They know that we will defend Western Civilization while they pursue their Socialist agenda. (Which precludes having an effective defense)

For Christ's sake, Germany and all of Europe could not lift a finger against Serbia, let alone Iran, without needing a lowlife scumbag, caught with his sperm on Monica's dress to intercede because he needed to use the tail to wag the dog to prevent impeachment.

Iran would kick their collective ass, and even the EU types here have to know that.

[WoofDog123]

my comment was in diplomatic context, not military, which obviously europe would only contribute after the fact. THe point was just diplomatic stuff (cut relations, etc) would set the ball rolling and as always the non-aggressors want to avoid the inevitable until it is too late and matters are far worse than if they had been addressed early on.

To my mind Iran is the SINGLE most worrisome political.military situation in the world right now, worse than DPRK by far.

[freema]

WOW. Merkel stepped right in it, didn't she.

Prayers for her.

[freema]

I am of German descent and one day asked my father, hypothetically, if the family had been there then, did he think we would have become Nazis. You should have seen his face.

I suppose there are many people in Iraq who fought and worked for Saddam who would deny it in shame today, and your neighbor's parents could very well have been caught up in that web. Many were drug in as youths in both situations.

[skyeblue]

How about moving "palestine" to Iran?

[andysandmikesmom]

Absolutely, your point is well taken...my husband and I have often discussed, if we were in Germany during WW11, would we have had the courage to resist...one likes to think that they would, but unless we are in that situation, we will never know how we would act and react...

My point tho, was, that this woman was younger than me, had not gone through the war, and yet did not want her son to be exposed to what I thought was a well known part of history...I could understand about her parents, from whom I am sure she received many of her beliefs...but she was now in America, and her son would learn history in American schools..sooner or later, she would have to come to terms with that, as would her son...

[tuff_schlitz]

"To my mind Iran is the SINGLE most worrisome political.military situation in the world right now, worse than DPRK by far."

Here's my take on Iran: How good could their army really be? They fought Iraq for 10 years to a stalemate. We stomped Iraq militarily (twice) in a matter of weeks. That being said...it's time for action against these buggers. They've been a burr under our saddle for over 25 years and they need to be taught better. I think I'd call it "Operation Enduring Lesson" or "Operation A$$kicking That's Been a LONG Time Coming."

[M. Espinola]

"How about moving "palestine" to Iran?"

Capitol idea, considering OPEC's Iran could save their annual multi-millions paid out to the various Pal-Arab Islamic death cults. Hizballah should be relocated to Iran as well, and they can all self detonate together.

[tuff_schlitz]

AT my highschool, we had an assistant soccer coach who had enlisted in the German army in WWII at the age of 15 (end of the war, when they were taking just about anyone, regardless of age). He was captured in Czecoslovakia (sp) about 2 weeks before the war ended (by the Russians) and spent the next 4 years in a Russian prison, where the mortality reate was over 90%. He once told my dad (who was the athletic director): "Hitler wasn't ALL bad; he just shouldn't have f***ed with the Jews."
Interesting take?

[BobS]

"...altho the Holocaust happened in some sort of very limited way, it was the Americans and others who lied and tried to expand the scope of the Holocaust...

My mother was German and married my dad that way.

The average German did not know what was going on with the camps at the time. It shapes up as a NAZI secret operation. If the general population did know, do you think they would support that crap? I don't. All my mother remembers is Jewish people moving out of the country from her town. Her town was Bamberg. And nobody ever bombed it! It was amazingly left alone by both sides!

[AnalogReigns]

Because of the difficulty in dealing with it, I have heard (not confirmed for sure though) that German schools just didn't deal with WWII and the Holocaust until the 1970s. I suppose it was discussed in a limited way in the home...if at all. That may have been the case of the mother you knew.

Since then though, German schools deal EXTENSIVELY with the Holocaust--perhaps because most of the perpetrators are now dead, and its not as painful at this distance. I have German friends in their 20s and 30s, and all of them dealt A LOT with the Holocaust and don't question its authenticity... This education even includes field trips to concentration camps... (I bet very few school kids ever visit say, the Andersonville prison site in the USA, eh?)

It's almost overboard now in their schools...in that the kids' GRANDPARENTS were to young to take part in the war. Hence resentment grows, over a feeling as to why should they be blamed--its popular for younger Germans to believe the country was all a victim to the Nazi dictators too...(a very dangerous mistruth). Anyway, such is history.

[Yossarian]

The average German did not know what was going on with the camps at the time. It shapes up as a NAZI secret operation. If the general population did know, do you think they would support that crap?

The problem is that enough of the general population in the area of the camps went along with it just fine - there is no way that they couldn't notice the trains of people coming in, leaving empty, and not realize what was going on.

The population of Germany was whipped into a revolting hate, strong enough to support monsters. Jews were effectively dehumanized, so when they got slaughtered, who there could see it as a crime against humanity?

The enduring lesson of WWII? Propaganda works on the untrained populace. It worked well for the Nazis then. It works fine for all sorts of unscrupulous politicians today.