Tillich. 'Don't be concerned about Neo-Nazis'
Photo: Getty Images Bank
Holger Apfel. 'Flourishing Holocaust industry'
Israel's friend in Europe
Stanislaw Tillich, minister-president of Free State of Saxony, is one of Jewish state's greatest supporters in Germany, all of Europe
BERLIN – Stanislaw Tillich is often mentioned on the websites of NPD, the German neo-Nazi party. Tillich, the minister-president of the Free State of Saxony, has consciously turned himself into the neo-Nazis' most dangerous enemy.
Tillich, who was elected to head the Saxony government two years ago, decided to launch a smart battle against the extreme Right. He did not settle, like others, for a verbal condemnation, but began dealing seriously with the roots of support for the neo-Nazis: The high unemployment rate and multiple social problems that have surfaced since East Germany was disestablished and Germany reunited.
The 51-year-old conservative politician is engaged in a personal all-out war against the racist Right, as NPD has turned Saxony into its main political stronghold. In the regional elections held six years ago, Germans were shocked to see the neo-Nazis win 10% of all votes in the former eastern German state and send 12 representatives into the parliament. In some areas in Saxony, the support for neo-Nazis reached one-third of all voters.
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Although Saxony is considered one of the district's leading countries in terms of economy and education in modern-day Germany, many residents are unsatisfied with their situation and serve as fertile land for the NPD's propaganda.
Nonetheless, Tillich's hard work has been bearing fruit. In the regional elections held last year, the neo-Nazis lost about half of their power and barely made it through the high threshold.
Several days after the Israeli raid on the Turkish flotilla to Gaza, Holger Apfel, leader of the NPD faction in the Saxon Parliament, launched an unrestrained attack on Israel. He spoke about the "Jewish terror state", the "country of villains" and the "flourishing Holocaust industry". After Apfel refused to obey the parliament speaker's calls for order, he was forced to leave the hall and banned from returning until December.
'Great friendship between people'
On the backdrop of these harsh accusations against the Jewish state, Tillich visited Israel recently, accompanied by a large delegation of businesspeople from Saxony. One of his stops was the Yad Vashem Holocaust Museum in Jerusalem.
"Ever since Germany's reunification in 1991, we enjoy democracy and freedom of speech," Tillich said in a special interview to Yedioth Ahronoth. "Since then, NPD has decided that the center of its activities would be in our region.
"This party has managed to unite all the radical rightist powers, and this led to an electoral achievement in the regional elections six years ago. But while NPD tried to misuse the law and democracy, we clarify the limits and act against violations of the law, including insults against the State of Israel.
"During the parliament incident, the other faction heads delivered very different addresses. It's important that people know that. The parliament speaker hit Apfel with the harshest punitive measure taken so far against any representative.
"I would like to clarify, in an unequivocal manner, that there is a great friendship between Saxony and Israel, which has been developing in a consistent manner since 1994 and is expressed in other projects we are partaking in.
"The Yad Vashem audio guide in German was a donation of the Free State of Saxony. We were the first to send lawyers from our district attorney's office to Yad Vashem training courses. Now other regional states in Germany are doing the same.
"But our friendship is not just between governments, but mainly between people. This can be seen in the extensive activity of the Friends of Israel association in Saxony and dozens of other bodies."
Quite a few Israeli businesspeople, including Michael Federman, have contributed to Saxony's swift economic development in the past 20 years through many investments. According to Tillich, the Israelis should not be concerned about the neo-Nazis' anti-Israel activity.
"No foreigner should be afraid of them. We make it clear to the local population that NPD hurts and damages Saxony's image. Today people understand this, and the proof can be seen in the recent election results.
"If you look into the identity of the NPD leaders, you'll discover that most of them come from West Germany. They came here to take advantage of the long border between Saxony and Eastern Europe, with Poland and the Czech Republic, for their own needs.
"At the time there was a sharp rise in the level of crime, which sparked a huge public discourse. NPD took advantage of the situation, because they are against the European Union and are interested in closing the borders between Europe's countries.
"But we have a long tradition of coexistence. We are very proud of our history of 1,000 years of prosperity and good relations with the local Jewish community. In general, we are very different in our stance from the rest of Germany. During the second Iraq war, for example, we stood by the Americans while the rest of the Germans criticized them."
'Coexistence a solution for all nations'
Tillich's commitment to the war on neo-Nazis also stems from his affiliation with the Sorbian minority, which lives in eastern Germany and has been granted cultural and extensive national rights, and has been fully integrated into the German systems. The Nazis tried to combat every sign of Sorbian culture and sent many of those loyal to the Sorbian identity to concentration camps.
"The Sorbs, who are Slavic people, have been living since the sixth century in areas which were part of the former East Germany, near the border with the Czech Republic and Poland," Tillich explains. "After the 11th century, their Germanization began. Today they are the last of the original inhabitants of those areas.
"One could say we are a lost nation, but for the past 1,000 years we have been living in peace with the Germans. When I went to school, there were children in my classroom from 'pure' Sorbian communities, who learned German at a much later stage. Most of the last Sorbs, and there are 60,000 of us, live in the regional states of Saxony and Brandenburg.
"We have our own language and flag, an association preserving our culture, a daily newspaper, a radio show, and broadcasting hours on regional television stations, instruction programs for teachers at the University of Leipzig, as well as a theater and other cultural activities. At home I speak to my children in Sorbian. People can choose to declare that they belong to the Sorbian nationality, while enjoying full citizens' rights in Germany."
Sounds like an ideal solution for the problems of the Middle East.
"Coexistence in terms of religious, national and ethnic tolerance can serve as a solution for all nations, not just in the Middle East. Knowing Israel, I am aware of the fact that citizens of other religions and nationalities enjoy equal rights under the law. I clearly see a resemblance between Germany and Israel in terms of minority rights."
Tillich's father was a member of the Communist Party in East Germany. In recent months, Tillich himself has been accused of having ties with the Stasi, the Communist secret police agency. These rumors were spread, naturally, by the neo-Nazis. But Tillich, who managed to refute all the allegations against him, refrains from talking about a "witch hunt".
"We must remain loyal to history. We cannot say that people were not oppressed by the Communist regime's security organizations. Other Eastern European countries kept silent about this issue for a long time, and are only now starting to deal with their Communist past. We began dealing with it immediately after the reunification.
"I was among those who were against destroying the Stasi documents after the regime collapsed. Such a move would have strengthened the lack of trust among the population and people would have continued suspecting others. All those who wanted to deal with the past had fewer problems than those who tried to hide things and silence people."
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