GERMANY: Germany's Christian Democrats (CDU) have brushed off criticism that they waited too long before pushing to expel a backbencher who said Jews could be seen as much perpetrators of mass murder as Germans.
CDU MPs will vote by the end of the week on whether to expel Mr Martin Hohmann, a 55-year-old backbencher from the central German city of Fulda.
"The decision has been made to avert damage to the Christian Democratic Union and the parliamentary party," said Dr Angela Merkel, the leader of the CDU. She said the decision had nothing to do with public pressure on the party, but came after Mr Hohmann rejected a final chance he was offered to distance himself "publicly, believably and comprehensibly" from his remarks.
The politician was called before the party leadership one last time last night to explain himself, an appearance that was unlikely to alter his fate. "My impression is, he hasn't really understood what it's about," said one leading CDU member.
Mr Hohmann said in a speech on October 3rd that it could be argued that Jews were as much "perpetrators" of mass murder as Germans because of their involvement in massacres during the Russian Revolution. He then said neither people were perpetrators and that the real perpetrators were, in both cases, minorities who had rejected religion.
The decision to expel Mr Hohmann is a complete about-face for Dr Merkel, who spent the last week defending the party decision to issue a warning instead. That decision caused uproar from Jewish leaders and leading government ministers and ever-louder calls for Mr Hohmann to be expelled.
Privately, Dr Merkel was said to be anxious to do just that, but was warned against it by advisers who feared the party might only scrape together the two-thirds parliamentary party majority needed to expel Mr Hohmann, a disastrous scenario for the party.
The president of Germany's Central Council of Jews, Mr Paul Spiegel, said the decision was "late, but not too late" and was "no reason for joy or malice".
Some 60 members of a Jewish congregation in Frankfurt left their synagogue last Sunday during a speech marking Kristallnacht given by Mr Roland Koch, the CDU governor in Hesse, and immediate boss of Mr Hohmann.
Mr Koch said yesterday: "Mr Hohmann's statements and the subsequent public debate greatly damaged the CDU."