Dortmund neo-Nazi party asks for list of city's Jews
Document circulating online and in German media claims local neo-Nazi party demanded list of names, addresses of city's Jews in order to 'do its job'.
A neo-Nazi party from the city of Dortmund has reportedly demanded the city's mayor give them a list of all city's Jews, in an event eerily reminiscent of darker days in Germany's past. Luckily, the mayor refused and slammed the request, passing it on to legal authorities who are working to outlaw the party.
According to different reports, the party, known as Die Rechte (The Right), wrote a letter to Dortmund Mayor Ullrich Sierau through its lone city council member, Dennis Giemsch, requesting to know many Jews live in and around the city, as well as their addresses.
The reason for the request, the letter explained, was 'professional': To be able to give proper treatment to the city's residents, the party said it needed to know the relative size of each faith in the local population to be able to "do its job."
Giemsch reportedly asked the information be given at a city council meeting Wednesday night. Needless to say, his demand was unequivocally refused. They Daily Mail reports the letter was then passed onto the North Rhine-Westphalia interior ministry as part of the ongoing effort to ban the party.
Mayor Sierau, from Germany's center-left Social Democratic Party, vehemently condemned the letter, and in a press release, slammed the as request "inhuman," saying the city was happy with everyone who chooses to call it their home, and in a Tweet the city said city's Jewish community was an integral part of society.
The city's Jewish council slammed the request, saying it's "true intentions" were obvious, and said it was "obnoxious and perfidious anti-Semitism."
The party was formed to years ago and has roughly 500 members.
