General Sacked For Praising Anti-Semitic Remarks
November 5, 2003Advertisement
German defense minister Peter Struck has fired an army general for praising a speech by a member of parliament that included anti-Semitic remarks. Reinhard Günzel, 59, who headed the army's elite special forces commando, had thanked parliamentarian Martin Hohmann in a letter for his "courage to speak the truth." In his speech, Hohmann, a member of the opposition Christian Democrats, referred to Jews as a "race of perpetrators," claiming that Jewish Bolsheviks were responsible for crimes committed against civilians during the Russian revolution. The Central Council of Jews in Germany has filed a criminal complaint against Hohmann. Christian Democrat leaders have publicly reprimanded Hohmann for his remarks.