Germany's Merkel condemns attack on Jewish nursery School
Pastor Dale Morgan
Germany's Merkel condemns attack on Jewish nursery School*
01 Mar 2007 15:22:25 GMT
Source: Reuters
By Cornelia Krause
BERLIN, March 1 (Reuters) - Chancellor Angela Merkel condemned an arson
attack on a Jewish nursery school in Berlin on Thursday, calling it a
horrifying attempt to disrupt Jewish life in Germany.
A leader of Germany's Jewish community said in an interview with Reuters
that anti-Semitic violence had reached a new and worrisome level with
Sunday's attack on the nursery school. The attackers also defaced the
building with anti-Semitic slogans.
Merkel sent a letter to the head of the Jewish nursery promising the
state's full support to catch the assailants. There were no injuries but
the nursery was damaged by fire.
"Any attack on a Jewish institution is an attack on our democracy,"
Merkel said, adding she felt "dismay and disgust". "The attackers will
not succeed with their goal of disrupting Jewish life in Berlin."
On Thursday, government officials attended a prayer for tolerance in a
synagogue to show solidarity after the attack, where a burning object
was hurled through a school window.
Stephan Kramer, general secretary of the Central Council of Jews in
Germany, said he was alarmed by growth in anti-Semitism.
"The fact that the attack was aimed at children shows a line has been
crossed," he said. "We're seeing inhibitions against these sort of
crimes disappearing in Germany."
Six million Jews were killed in the Holocaust.
There has been an upturn of anti-Semitic crimes in recent years,
especially in the formerly Communist east, but most of the criminal acts
had stopped short of violence.
That changed last year. On Nov. 9, German neo-Nazis shouting "Sieg Heil"
rampaged in the eastern town of Frankfurt on Oder and destroyed wreaths
placed to mark the 68th anniversary of the 1938 Nazi pogrom against
Jews, the "Kristallnacht".