This document provides a summary of several news stories from Germany, including the rise of the anti-immigration group PEGIDA and its large demonstrations in Dresden. It also discusses Chancellor Angela Merkel's strong opposition to PEGIDA and her handling of the refugee crisis. Additionally, it profiles Dietrich von Hildebrand, an early German philosopher and opponent of Nazism, and discusses Germany's sale of missile frigates to Israel to help protect offshore gas facilities.

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AN AMERICAN JEWISH – GERMAN INFORMATION &
OPINION NEWSLETTER
dubowdigest@optonline.net
AMERICAN EDITION
January 2015
IN THIS EDITION
PEGIDA – An extremist political movement.
THE CHANCELLOR AS A PERSON – Not only political – but very political.
MORE ABOUT WARSHIPS – First subs; now missile frigates.
DIETRICH VON HILDEBRAND: A NAME TO REMEMBER – A great anti-Nazi.
HEINER SUSSEBACH – He will be sorely missed.
GERMAN JEWISH FUTURE – Risen from the ashes. Now what?
Dear Friends:
The horrible events that took place in Paris earlier this month have, as you might
imagine, implications for Germany, a next-door neighbor. However, Germany is not
France. It has its own set of problems with a large Muslim population, extremism and
anti-Semitism but it is (again) not France.
Germany has a substantial Islamic population; however, unlike France most of the folks
(or their parents or grandparents) came from Turkey as needed workers in the 1960’s
and just stayed on. They are probably 4% or 5% of the total 80 plus million German
population. There have been very few Islamist terror events in Germany. However, that
is not to say that there are no terrorists The German security services seem to watch
the situation closely.
What has emerged in Germany is a populist reaction to Islam and perceived Islamic

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influence in German life. A group known as Pegida (Patriotic Europeans Against the
Islamisation of the West) developed a large following particularly in the eastern city of
Dresden. They have been holding weekly demonstrations drawing large crowds –
18,000 recently. These “marches” have triggered off even larger counter
demonstrations, the last including the Chancellor of the President themselves. (Below
you will find more about Pegida). A good article about the Chancellor’s stance can be
accessed by clicking here.
http://www.dw.de/opinion-a-changed-chancellor/a-18194706
Chancellor Merkel was front and center in the French nationwide demonstration
following the Paris murders. Thus far Islamist terrorism has not spread to Germany but
that, of course, doesn’t mean it won’t. I think Frau Merkel and her government
understand that any hate-based movement, whether it is Islamist or German populist, is
a grave potential danger to Germany. As far as I can tell the murders in France have not
touched off any anti-Semitic activity in Germany either. So far, so good!
On to the rest of the news…
PEGIDA
The acronym PEGIDA, if you do not already know it, and follow matters in Germany,
you will shortly (and unhappily). I wrote briefly about it last month but it has continued to
gain strength and has gotten widespread media attention. It is a frightening
development.
What is it? According to Wikipedia it stands for, “Patriotische Europäer gegen die
Islamisierung des Abendlandes (PEGIDA, in English: "Patriotic Europeans Against the
Islamization of the Occident" [i.e., the West]) is a German political movement based in
Dresden. It has been organizing public demonstrations since October 2014, against
what it considers to be the Islamization of Europe.
PEGIDA was founded in Dresden by a twelve-member group and demonstrates against
a policy that it perceives as aligning mainly in recent years to minorities and thereby
ignoring the common people. The movement began drawing public attention when its
mass rallies started to reach large numbers of people. Among 7,500 participants on
December 1, the police counted 80 to 120 people from the hooligan scene and 25 from
the right-wing environment. The demonstrations grew to 10,000 people on December 7
and reached 17,500 people on December 22. During weekly demonstrations, PEGIDA
carries banners with slogans including "For the preservation of our culture", "Against
religious fanaticism" and "Against religious wars on German soil".
Commentators have attributed the success of PEGIDA to widespread dissatisfaction
with European immigration policies amidst an increasing alienation toward the political
elites and the mainstream media.

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In December 2014, PEGIDA published a manifesto. In this manifesto PEGIDA
advocates for the protection of Germany's Judeo-Christian culture and for tolerance
toward assimilated and politically moderate Muslims. It calls Islamism a misogynist and
violent ideology.
The large number of people who have come out in support of PEGIDA brought a very
strong rebuke from Chancellor Merkel in her New Year Address. DW reported, “She
pointed out that Germany has received more than 200,000 applications from asylum
seekers this year, making it the country accepting the largest number of refugees in the
world.
The number of refugees in the world this year hasn't been so high since World War II,
Merkel added, saying that children of persecuted parents could grow up in Germany
under peaceful circumstances - something the country could be proud of.
IS a 'threat to values'
Nearly one fifth of those refugees were from conflict-ridden Syria, where rebels have
been fighting President Bashar al-Assad's regime since 2011 and "Islamic State" (IS)
militants have taken over vast parts of the country's northern areas.
Merkel also warned against the danger that IS militants posed to the world. The terror
group had "persecuted all human beings and had brutally killed those who didn't submit
to its authority." The IS was also a threat to "our values at home," the chancellor said.
PEGIDA: 'Their hearts are cold, full of prejudice, hate'
Merkel also called upon citizens to be wary of the initiators of the anti-Islam PEGIDA
movement who have staged several protest rallies across Germany over the last couple
months.
She said that such movements discriminated against people with different skin color or
religion.
"Do not follow people who organize these, for their hearts are cold and often full of
prejudice, and even hate," Merkel appealed.
In addition to the Chancellor’s comments, the German Jewish community has not been
silent. (Wikipedia) “Josef Schuster, Chairman of the Central Council of Jews in
Germany, voiced his opposition to the group, saying that the possibility of an Islamic
conquest of Germany would be as "absurd" as a resurrection of the Nazi regime.
I believe that it is important that Schuster has been public on the issue. One should not
be hoodwinked by PEGIDA’s positive allusion to “protection of Germany's Judeo-
Christian culture”. Schuster isn’t nor should anyone else.
We will have to see whether PEGIDA has staying power and whether the counter
demonstrations will cause it to wither away. My guess is that there are enough people in
Germany who are feeling threatened by the influx of refugees to keep the

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demonstrations going. Whether PEGIDA can influence policy is the real question that
eventually has to be answered by the government. Stay tuned!
THE CHANCELLOR AS A PERSON
One of the most surprising political happenings since the fall of the Berlin Wall has been
the rise to importance of Chancellor Angela Merkel. From a practically non-political East
German scientific researcher to the leader of Europe’s most important nation is a
fascinating story.
It is now told in a quite good article in The New Yorker by George Packer. The article
also features a set of photographs of Frau Merkel dating back to 1991 when, if my math
is correct, she was in her late 30’s. You can access it by clicking on the link.
http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2014/12/01/quiet-german
Another interesting story comes to us by way of a Haaretz article which reports, “A new
survey shows that 70% of Israelis have a positive view of the country [Germany], due in
some part to the chancellor's popularity.
The results indicate, specifically, that about 70 percent of Israelis regard Germany in a
positive or extremely positive light — a slight increase compared with surveys from
previous years. In contrast, 23 percent of Israelis regard the country in a negative or
extremely negative light.
It appears that the positive attitude toward Germany is also affected by Israelis’ great
support for Chancellor Angela Merkel: About 70 percent of those surveyed see her in a
positive or extremely positive light, as compared with 50 percent in 2007 and 56 percent
in 2009. The poll found that Israelis’ support for Merkel, which is higher among men
than women, increases with the respondents’ age.
You can read the entire article by clicking on the link.
http://www.haaretz.com/news/world/.premium-1.636655
It isn’t any secret that I consider Chancellor Merkel one of the most outstanding
politicians of our time. Read both of the above stories and you many wind up agreeing
with me.
One more thing; I always find it useful to see someone up close and hear what their
voice sounds like. Following you will find a video of the Chancellor responding to
questions from a journalist. Of course, it’s in German so you may not understand it. But
if you see and hear it you will get a close up view of Europe’s most powerful leader.
http://www.bundeskanzlerin.de/Webs/BKin/DE/Mediathek/Einstieg/mediathek_einstieg_
podcasts_node.html;jsessionid=32D0E7A484D8729E85495F500B3D326F.s4t1?id=130
5638

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MORE ABOUT WARSHIPS
In quite a continuum for the last couple of years, announcements have been
coming out of Jerusalem and Berlin about Germany’s building submarines (and
paying for part of them) for the Israel Defense Forces.
With the discovery of great deposits of natural gas off Israel’s coast, and the
need for protecting the platforms, a new sort of vessel is needed, – kind of a
small destroyer. So, it was announced as 2014 came to an end (The Times of
Israel), “Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Thursday confirmed that Israel had
acquired four new Sa’ar-class warships from Germany, reportedly to help protect off-
shore gas extraction facilities.
Netanyahu said the deal with Berlin for the corvettes was reached earlier in the week.
According to a Channel 2 report, the deal was signed in Germany on Monday by the
Defense Ministry director and the head of Israel’s National Security Council.
A spokesperson from the Prime Minister’s Office said that for the time being the deal
remained an understanding, and that Germany would be footing a “nice” part of the
cost. He refused to detail the cost of the ships.
The IDF Spokesperson told The Times of Israel that the government tasked the
Navy with defending Israel’s off-shore gas extraction facilities in the
Mediterranean, and that “in this framework there will be a defensive array in
which there’ll be the acquisition of four defensive ships.”
The missile frigates will be constructed at German shipyards, and will complement the
fleet of four German-made Dolphin-class submarines currently in service with the Israel
Navy.
A fifth Dolphin-class submarine is slated for arrival in 2015, Defensenews.com reported
earlier this week, and the contract for a sixth was signed earlier this year. All have
been fully or partially funded by the German government.
“I want to thank German Chancellor [Angela] Merkel for the constant commitment and
help for our security,” Netanyahu said Thursday.
The deal, reportedly worth €1 billion, was struck in November, according to a report
in German newspaper Bild am Sonntag earlier this month. According to the report,
Berlin will contribute €115 million to the deal.
The deal still needs to be approved by the German parliament.
Germany subsidizes defense projects for Israel as part of its post-Holocaust

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commitment to help ensure the country’s security.
I hate to keep repeating myself but when it comes to friendship and essential defense
weaponry, it’s action that counts. The providing of warships to Israel by Germany (and
then paying for part of them) says a lot and action speaks louder than words.
DIETRICH VON HILDEBRAND: A NAME TO REMEMBER
Every once in a while my ignorance comes shining through when I realize that there is
some person or fact that I should be familiar with confronts me and I am a total blank..
This happened recently when I read about Dietrich von Hildebrand, a German
philosopher-turned-outspoken Nazi antagonist in The Daily Beast, an Internet
newsletter which I frequently peruse.
John Henry Crosby writing in TDB notes, “Dietrich von Hildebrand is best remembered
today in theological circles for his contributions to Catholic thought. He should also be
remembered for being an early and eloquent foe of Nazism.
Despite having been described by the Nazi ambassador in Vienna as “the worst
obstacle to German National Socialism in Austria,” Hildebrand remains virtually
unknown today, even to historians of the period. This makes the recent publication of
his memoirs and writings against Nazism—entitled My Battle Against Hitler—all the
more momentous. It is not often that we discover a “new” hero Despite having been
described by the Nazi ambassador in Vienna as “the worst obstacle to German National
Socialism in Austria,” Hildebrand remains virtually unknown today, even to historians of
the period. This makes the recent publication of his memoirs and writings against
Nazism—entitled My Battle Against Hitler—all the more momentous. It is not often that
we discover a “new” hero destined to count among the greatest figures in the previous
century’s fearful struggles against tyranny and genocide.
Dietrich von Hildebrand was born 1889 in Florence. The only son of the renowned
German sculptor, Adolf von Hildebrand, he grew up in one of Munich’s great artistic
families. As a teenager he fell in love with philosophy, which he went on to study under
some of Germany’s leading minds, notably the philosophers Max Scheler and Edmund
Husserl, who remarked that he had “inherited his father’s artistic genius as a
philosophical genius.”
One would be hard-pressed to find an earlier opponent of the Nazis than Dietrich von
Hildebrand. Already in 1921—12 years before Hitler came to power—his public
denunciations of German nationalism and militarism led the nascent Nazi Party to
blacklist him. The risk to his life was great enough that he had to flee Munich when
Hitler attempted to seize power in November 1923.
While Hildebrand openly confronted Nazi racism, it is sobering to see in his memoirs
that many of his energies were directed at combatting the comparably “soft” anti-
Semitism that he found all around him. This was not the racism of concentration camps

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and gas chambers, but a deep-seated antipathy toward Jews and their purported moral
and spiritual degeneracy. While many leading thinkers in Germany—and in America,
too, it should be noted—were taken in by pseudo-scientific racial theories, Hildebrand
saw in anti-Semitism more than just the hatred of a particular people. “The current
attack on the Jews,” he wrote in a 1937 essay, “targets not just this people of 15 million
but mankind as such.”
We would miss a certain achievement in Hildebrand’s enmity toward racism and
nationalism if we saw them just as acts of courage in the face of manifest evil. What
sets him apart from so many of his contemporaries was his rare immunity from the
influence of prevailing ideas. We cannot read his memoirs without opening ourselves to
the possibility that many of us, had we lived at that time, would have been seduced by
the siren song of National Socialism, falling into some compromise or other, and without
marveling at Hildebrand’s almost preternatural independence of spirit in his unmasking
of Hitler.
When Hitler became chancellor on Jan. 30, 1933, Hildebrand was confronted with a
choice: Would he remain in Nazi Germany? By the end of February, as Hitler
consolidated his power, his decision was made: He would not—indeed, could not—
remain. It is true that he had to consider his safety, for by 1933 he was a well-known
enemy of the Nazis, but he left principally in the conviction that he had to speak openly
against Nazism, and that he could only do so from outside the Third Reich.
When Hildebrand left Germany on March 12, 1933, he abandoned everything that was
dear to him: friends and family members, his rising career, his home. “I expressly made
a conscious farewell to the beloved house, indeed to every single room,” he wrote of
leaving the magnificent home he had inherited from his father. “It was clear to me that I
was unlikely ever to see it again.” But while his departure was “inexpressibly painful,” he
never succumbed to bitterness. “Better to be a beggar in freedom,” he cried out, “than to
be forced into compromises against my conscience.”
It would take many trying months to discern his future. In the spring of 1933, few
perceived Nazism with the gravity he did. Finally the pieces came together.
Approaching the young Austrian chancellor, Engelbert Dollfuss, whom he perceived as
the only European head of state openly opposing Hitler, Hildebrand offered himself as
an “intellectual officer.” Dollfuss was impressed and agreed to finance a new anti-Nazi
newspaper to be published under Hildebrand’s editorship. In the pages of his pape v r,
Hildebrand would publish some 67 essays forcefully taking on Nazi ideology in the
public square and rallying many troops to his cause.
From the moment of his arrival in the Austrian capital in the fall of 1933, Hildebrand was
a controversial figure, attracting both supporters and detractors. He was accused of
being extreme, of failing to accept the inevitable, of refusing to cooperate with those
who thought they could influence the Nazi regime in a good direction by collaborating
with it. None of this deterred him.
Hildebrand’s newspaper had a circulation in the thousands, yet his voice echoed far
beyond Austria. Hitler wanted him silenced, the Nazi government repeatedly demanded

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his paper be suppressed, and Hildebrand on several occasions was warned that plans
were being made for assassination. Hildebrand’s voice was even heard in America, as
evidenced by a recently discovered FBI memo, apparently signed by J. Edgar Hoover
himself, which describes Hildebrand as a “famous foe of Nazism” and the “editor of the
most violently anti-Nazi newspaper in Austria.”
Hildebrand would eventually arrive as a refugee in New York City on Christmas Eve
1940, his passage from Portugal via Brazil arranged in part by the French philosopher
Jacques Maritain and the Rockefeller Foundation. His harrowing escape from Vienna
when Hitler took Austria in March 1938 is dramatically chronicled in his memoirs.
Hildebrand’s courage and clarity naturally awaken our curiosity. What could have
sustained him during these darkest of hours? The answer may come as a surprise.
Having been raised in a totally non-religious home, Hildebrand converted to Catholicism
in 1914. He would remain an ardent and committed Catholic until the day he died in
January 1977. Even as he confronted Hitler on the firm basis of philosophical argument,
his Christian commitment provided him with both spiritual sustenance and key
philosophical categories for his confrontation with the Nazi ideology.
Hildebrand was keenly aware of the grievous failures of Christians under Nazism. Yet
he never wavered in his conviction that Christianity was the only spiritual force powerful
enough to contend with humanity’s capacity for evil. It was the ultimate guarantor of the
humanism he advanced against Nazism. He saw the true antithesis to genocidal and
totalitarian ideologies not in vague notions of respect, but in Revelation: “All of the
Christian West stands and falls with the words of Genesis,” he writes in one essay,
“‘And God created man in His image.’”
It is all too easy to be despondent in the face of what seems like the endless capacity of
evil to reinvent itself. But perhaps it is precisely for this reason that the rediscovery of
Dietrich von Hildebrand could not come at a better time. For through his words and
deeds, he gives us hope that even the most brutal and terrifying forms of evil can be
overcome by the moral witness of those who have the courage to stand up to it.
After reading about Hildebrand and feeling embarrassed about my lack of knowledge
about him I foraged through the Internet and found that he is not lost to history. In fact
there is an organization called The Hildebrand Project which you can read about it by
clicking on the following link: www.hildebrandproject.org
HEINER SUSSEBACH
All good things come to an end. And so it is with the involvement of Heiner Sussebach,
the noted and much loved interpreter who staffed the AJC – Adenauer Foundation
Exchange Program for 24 years from 1991 through 2014.
If you were fortunate enough to be a participant in the Exchange program (many AJC
leaders were) you experienced his charm and depth of knowledge. He was a lot more
than an interpreter. He was a fount of knowledge about many subjects and a great

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person to be with
Heiner’s English was so perfect that many were surprised that he was actually German.
A brief discussion with him revealed that he was, indeed, born in Germany
(Saarbrucken), studied at Boston University, married an American (Jan), joined the U.S.
Army, became an American citizen, returned to Germany to teach interpreting at the
University of the Saarland and then split his residence between Saarbrucken and
Piermont, NY, later Westminster, VT.
Heiner actually retired from the University some years ago but continued with the
Exchange Program as his only professional activity. His dedication to the program says
reams about him and the importance he ascribed to the improvement of German –
Jewish relations.
Heiner will be sorely missed. In many ways there is really no adequate way to replace
him. However, as I said above, all good things come to an end; but life goes on for him
in a well-earned retirement.
I am privileged to call a Heiner a friend. The DuBows and the Sussebachs have become
close over the years, a great dividend for me provided by the AJC – Adenauer
Exchange Program.
In an e-mail exchange I had with Heiner I told him how sad I was that he was leaving
the Program. In response, and in typical Heiner fashion, he replied, “I, too, am
saddened by my retiring from the Exchange. 24 AJC/KAS programs have been a
significant part of my life. It hurts to say good-bye. On the other hand, I am happy that I
was able to make whatever little contribution I could to this important part of
German/American relations in general and German/Jewish relations in particular. I am
stepping aside with a great deal of gratitude toward many people in the KAS and the
AJC who have included me in their work.
If any of you wish to communicate with Heiner, he can be reached at
Sussebach@hotmail.com
GERMAN JEWISH FUTURE
Shortly after the Berlin Wall came down and Jews were free to leave the Soviet Union,
the Jewish community of Germany unexpectedly began to grow. To the amazement of
many the numbers reached at least 100,000 – maybe many more.
When Jews began to pour into Germany, Germany’s Jewish leadership agreed that the
immigrants should not all be centered in one or two places but spread out throughout
the country. Jewish communities, large and small, all grew larger. It’s now been a
quarter of a century since the influx began. The questions of “What’s happened?” and
“What will happen?” have begun to emerge.

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Pavel Lokshin writing in Der Spiegel notes, “In recent decades, Germany's Jewish
community enjoyed considerable growth. Due to changes in the government's
immigration policy, however, the number of new members has fallen and the population
is graying fast. Has the boom ended?
Since the early 1990s, Germany's Jewish community has grown from 30,000 to 100,000
members. Due to the influx of large numbers of Russian Jewish immigrants, many small
and medium-sized communities were able to massively grow their membership rosters.
The Jewish faith and culture once again became palpable across Germany.
But that growth appears to have come to a halt following a decision a few years back by
the government in Berlin to end policies that provided for easier emigration from the
former Soviet Union. Today, many Jewish congregations are graying swiftly. Almost half
of the official members of the country's Jewish community are over 60, with five
members dying for each birth in 2013, according to membership statistics.
Indeed, some are questioning if there has been any renaissance in Jewish life in
Germany at all. Julius Schoeps, the head of the Moses Mendelssohn Center for
European Jewish Studies at the University of Potsdam near Berlin, says there is much
more to suggest an "illusory bloom". In the medium term, he argues, it is only the largest
communities in Munich, Frankfurt, Berlin or Cologne that will be able to survive. "What
that means is that a hundred communities will disappear," he says.
At the same time, like Germany's Christian churches, the Jewish communities are also
having trouble attracting younger members for the long haul. "The younger generation is
highly flexible and mobile," says Karen Körber, who has conducted research on young
Jews for the Academy of the Jewish Museum in Berlin. "They have a tough time with
community structures based on the idea of lifelong membership."
She says it is unlikely that young people will remain in small cities over the long haul.
Indeed, newly created communities like the one in Oranienburg are more a product of
German bureaucracy than any goal of immigrants to revitalize Jewish life. Immigrants
from the former Soviet Union were required to move to specific German states under
strict quota rules that ensured fair burden sharing among regions. In the past, they often
landed in small towns that eventually became too small for them.
Often in Germany in recent years, Jewish communities have been divided over
fundamental issues, like whether Russian, German or English should be spoken at
events. Whether only Halakha Jews are able to participate who have inherited their
religion through their mothers ("matrilineal"). Or if children from mixed marriages, in
which only the father is Jewish, can participate.
Other identity conflicts also play a role. Even though they had been subjects of
discrimination for decades in the Soviet Union, some who joined Jewish communities in
Germany too often weren't considered religious enough by existing members of the
German-Jewish congregations. But Jewish life isn't the product of religion alone, says
Sergey Lagodinsky, a leading member of the Jewish Community of Berlin. He argues
that secular Jewish identities must also be respected as legitimate.

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The future of Germany's Jewish community hinges on the third generation of
immigrants. Lagodinsky believes people will have to lower their expectations for a boom
in Jewish life. "The revival of the Jews has always been a romantic notion held by
politicians and the media," he says.
Even the Central Council of Jews in Germany has recognized the need to strengthen its
outreach programs for Jewish youth. It is currently planning its next "Jewrovision"
singing and talent contest, that is inspired by the Eurovision Song Contest and,
according to the invitation, is intended to convey a sense of "joyous Jewishness."
There is little doubt that Sergey Lagodinsky is correct. With the immigration basically
over and the aging of the Jewish community a fact, hopes for an expanding German
Jewish community have to be seriously downsized. (BTW, Sergey, a young and brilliant
attorney is a former AJC Berlin staff member). The numbers are just not there.
However, that is not to say that what exists is not important. There seems to be
considerable vibrancy in segments of the Jewish community and that vitality has impact
in the overall general German community. Germany would be poorer without it and both
the German Jewish community itself and Israel would be less secure without it.
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See you again in February
DuBow Digest is written and published by Eugene DuBow who can be reached at
dubowdigest@optonline.net
Both the American and Germany editions are posted at www.dubowdigest.typepad.com