GERMANY: GERMANY'S CONSERVATIVE OPPOSITION MOVES TO EXPEL ONE OF IT'S MEMBERS FOR ANTI-JEWS COMMNETS

Record ID: 647212

  • Title: GERMANY: GERMANY'S CONSERVATIVE OPPOSITION MOVES TO EXPEL ONE OF IT'S MEMBERS FOR ANTI-JEWS COMMNETS
  • Date: 10th November 2003
  • Summary: (W7) BERLIN, GERMANY (NOVEMBER 4, 2003) (REUTERS) 1. MCU/SV OF MARTIN HOHMANN, OUSTED PARLIAMENTARIAN FROM GERMANY'S CONSERVATIVE OPPOSITION CDU, DURING RECENT ROUTINE CDU PARTY MEETING (AFTER HIS SPEECH) (5 SHOTS) 0.28 (W7) BERLIN, GERMANY (NOVEMBER 10, 2003) (REUTERS) 2. LV REICHSTAG (PARLIAMENT BUILDING) WITH GLASS DOME, PAN TO DEPUTIES OFFICES 0.39 3. LV MEETING IN PROGRESS BEHIND WINDOW 0.43 4. LV PEOPLE IN HALLWAY 0.48 5. SV GERMAN OPPOSITION LEADER,ANGELA MERKEL, ARRIVING TO MAKE STATEMENT 1.00 6. CU CAMERA LENSES 1.04 7. MCU (German) GERMAN OPPOSITION LEADER, ANGELA MERKEL, SAYING: "I have today filed an application to have deputy Martin Hohmann expelled from the CDU/CSU faction. This was a very difficult and a regrettable decision. We have so decided and the (state of) Hesse CDU/CSU party will also start proceedings to have Mr. Hohmann expelled." 1.37 8. SV JOURNALISTS LISTENING 1.41 9. MCU (German) MERKEL, SAYING: "This development came about after we had intensive talks with Mr. Hohmann again today which showed that Mr. Hohmann is not ready to publicly and credibly distance himself from his speech". 1.58 10. LV JOURNALISTS IN HALLWAY 2.02 11. MCU (German) MERKEL, SAYING: "The question that brought me to this decision was: can I defend a deputy such as Mr. Hohmann for what he says and does not say. And I can't defend him without a credible, public and understandable excuse for the intellectual aberration he committed". 2.25 12. LV JOURNALISTS 2.30 Initials Script is copyright Reuters Limited. All rights reserved
  • Embargoed: 25th November 2003 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: BERLIN, GERMANY
  • Country: Germany
  • Reuters ID: LVA7BFO2USJ5Z49VXNPFOU20ZG0U
  • Story Text: Germany's conservative opposition moves to expel
    one of it's members for anti-Jewish comments.




    Christian Democratic Union chairwoman Angela Merkel
    said on Monday evening (November 10) that CDU leaders
    agreed after a two-hour meeting in the Berlin Reichstag
    parliament building to take steps to expel Martin Hohmann,
    an obscure backbench lawmaker, from both their parliamentary
    group and the party itself.

    Hohmann said in a speech in October that Jews, like
    Germans, could be seen as a race of "perpetrators". Despite
    widespread condemnation, he at first refused to apologise.

    CDU leaders censured him last week but faced massive
    pressure to sack him.

    "This was a difficult and regrettable decision," Merkel
    said. "But Herr Hohmann refused to show any willingness to
    renounce those views. The step was necessary to prevent
    further damage. CDU members must know what the acceptable
    borders are."
    Criticising Jews is a sensitive matter in Germany,
    still haunted by guilt over their Nazi past. German Jewish
    groups and leaders from all parties had criticised Hohmann
    for remarks that appeared to belittle the Holocaust six
    decades ago.

    In a speech to his local constituency on October 3,
    Hohmann said it was mainly Bolsheviks of Jewish descent who
    had taken part in mass executions during the 1917 Russian
    revolution.

    He then went on to describe them as a nation of 'perpetrators'.

    Bucking demands from CDU leaders to apologise or
    resign, Hohmann at first only retracted his comments and
    said he would not apologise. A day later he did apologise
    as pressure to quit grew, but he unwittingly reignited the
    row by showing journalists a letter of support he received
    from a top German general.

    Brigadier Reinhard Guenzel, commander of the elite
    "KSK" special forces, praised Hohmann in a letter, on army
    notepaper, for an excellent speech and said most Germans
    shared his views.

    Defence Minister Peter Struck fired Guenzel immediately.

    Hesse state premier Roland Koch said he will also begin
    steps to throw Hohmann out of the CDU. But that is more
    difficult and a lengthy process because Koch would have to
    prove that Hohmann had intentionally harmed the CDU.



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