Holocaust-denying bishop removed from seminary post

Ultra-conservative Society of St Pius X relieves British-born Richard Williamson of duties at seminary in Argentina

A Roman Catholic bishop who said he does not believe the Nazis murdered millions of Jewish people in gas chambers has been removed from his seminary. Richard Williamsom caused outrage with his remarks, which surfaced shortly after the Vatican's decision to welcome him back into the Catholic church last week.

The Diarios y Noticias news agency reported today that the ultra-conservative Society of St Pius X was relieving the British-born Williamson of his post as the director of its seminary in La Reja, Argentina.

Williamson is reported to have claimed in a television interview last month that historical evidence was "hugely against six million having been deliberately gassed in gas chambers as a deliberate policy of Adolf Hitler ... I believe there were no gas chambers". He added: "I think that 200,000 to 300,000 Jews perished in Nazi concentration camps, but none of them by gas chambers."

In a statement, Father Christian Bouchacourt, the head of the Latin American chapter of the Society of St Pius X, said Williamson had been relieved as the head of the seminary on the outskirts of the Argentine capital, Buenos Aires. "Monsignor Williamson's statements do not in any way reflect the position of our congregation," the statement, reported by Reuters, said.

The row led the Vatican to order Williamson to recant his views last week. It issued a statement saying the bishop must accept the widely accepted historical truth that millions of Jews had been killed by the Nazis.

"Bishop Williamson, in order to be admitted to the episcopal functions of the church, must in an absolutely unequivocal and public way distance himself from his positions regarding the Shoah [Holocaust]," the statement said.

Pope Benedict XVI faced anger in his homeland of Germany and severe criticism from Jewish groups over his decision to lift an excommunication of the bishop. Williamson's excommunication was lifted along with those of three other bishops ordained without Vatican permission by the renegade French archbishop Marcel Lefebvre.

The Vatican said the Pope did not know about Williamson's views on the Holocaust when he agreed to lift the excommunication. The pontiff's actions led to him being criticised by the German chancellor, Angela Merkel.

Guardian

Germany sees rise in far-right attacks

Three hundred people recently demonstrated against far-right violence in Passau

The German government is to devise a strategy for curbing the surge of neo-Nazism as far-right offences have increased 30 per cent in 2008

The increase was announced following the attack on the chief of police in the town of Passau in Bavaria, who was stabbed in front of his home by a suspected neo-Nazi.

According to the German Ministry of Interior, the first ten months of 2008 saw up to 12,000 incidents perpetrated by far-Right offenders, including violent attacks, which is a 30 per cent increase compared to the same period in 2007. It is believed the actual numbers are much higher, as many race hate offences are not registered as such.

Angela Merkel, the German Chancellor, condemned the development, calling for more civil courage and saying that the far-Right offences were an attack on all Germans.

But Mrs Merkel is facing pressure from politicians across the spectrum for a ban of the National Democratic Party or NPD, the largest of the country's legally registered far-Right political groups that has often been accused of neo-Nazi links.

Previous attempts to ban the NPD were rejected as unconstitutional by the country's highest court, but an increasing number of politicians are considering another attempt in 2009 due to the drastic increase of far-Right related crimes. MPs have called for a special "democracy summit" to devise a strategy for fighting the rise of neo-Nazism.

In a separate development, an academic study found that over 20 per cent of all Germans are prejudiced against foreigners, while in the impoverished areas of former East Germany one in three citizens are xenophobic.

Telegraph

Merkel tells Knesset of shame over Nazis

• Chancellor pledges closer relations with Israel
• Five MPs in protest at use of German in parliament

Angela Merkel, Germany's chancellor, told Israel's parliament yesterday that the Holocaust filled her people with shame and promised a closer relationship with the Jewish state.

About 1,000 people gathered in the Knesset in Jerusalem to hear the 20-minute speech and gave Merkel a standing ovation. Five MPs stayed away in protest, saying they did not want to hear German in the Knesset, an indication that there are some in Israel who oppose the warming of relations between the two countries.

Merkel, 53, was the first German chancellor to be invited to address the parliament and spoke directly about the Nazi legacy. "The mass murder of 6 million Jews, carried out in the name of Germany, has brought indescribable suffering to the Jewish people, Europe and the entire world," she said.

"The Shoah fills us Germans with shame," she said, using the Hebrew word for the Holocaust. "I bow to the victims. I bow to all those who helped the survivors."

During her three-day visit, Merkel and Ehud Olmert, Israel's prime minister, reached an agreement on joint investment, military cooperation and other projects in science and research. They also discussed Iran's nuclear programme on which Israel has been pressing its allies to take a tough stance.

"Germany is setting its sights on a diplomatic solution, together with its partners," Merkel told the Knesset. "The German government will, if Iran does not give in, continue to resolutely defend sanctions ... The threats the Iranian president is launching against Israel and the Jewish people are without doubt a particular cause for concern.

"His repeated vilifications and the Iranian nuclear programme are a danger to peace and security. If Iran gained access to the atomic bomb, this would have devastating consequences ... This must be prevented." Olmert described Merkel as a "constant friend".

Officially her visit has been a major undertaking, with the German flag flown over the Knesset building and a joint session of the Israeli and German cabinets in Jerusalem. Yet the Israeli press has said little on the trip or on the warming ties even though it appears to signal a markedly new engagement between the two countries.

"It is quite extraordinary that she radiates so much friendship and support for the government of Israel," the Israeli historian Tom Segev told Associated Press. "The public discourse in Germany is much more critical of Israel than she is. I don't really remember a time when Germany so wholeheartedly and uncritically stood by the government of Israel."

There was some dissent. Anat Peri, an Israeli academic, wrote in the rightwing Makor Rishon-Hatzofe newspaper yesterday about concern over Germany's continuing trade with Iran and the country's reluctance to endorse military action against Tehran. "I have a profound suspicion that this policy is not motivated only by economic and political interests, but also expresses a deep hostility to the Jewish people, and identification with those who threaten to destroy Israel, in the hearts of many Germans, in spite of the official declarations of support for Israel," Peri wrote.

Israel and Germany established diplomatic relations in 1965 and Germany has paid $39.4bn to Holocaust survivors in Israel. Merkel did not visit the Palestinians on her trip, although Germany will host a joint peace conference later in the year. She spoke in support of the struggling peace process, but was careful not to voice strong criticism of Israel's policies.

Guardian

Merkel under pressure to ban neo-Nazi party

Chancellor Angela Merkel is coming under mounting pressure to ban Germany's main neo-Nazi party following a brutal attack on eight Indian traders who were chased and beaten by a mob screaming racist abuse.

A leader of the far-right National Democratic Party (NPD) was charged with inciting racial hatred yesterday after he proposed Adolf Hitler's former deputy, Rudolf Hess, for the Nobel Peace Prize. Hours after Udo Voigt made the remarks in a speech in Jena marking the 20th anniversary of Hess's death last Saturday night, the Indian men were chased through the nearby town of Mügeln.

Kurt Beck, the leader of Ms Merkel's Social Democrat coalition partners, said that in light of the attacks he was preparing a new legal initiative aimed at outlawing the NPD. But Ms Merkel said she remained sceptical about such a move.

"I found the previous experience we had with this highly disagreeable," she said. "I definitely don't want a repeat of last time." An effort to ban the NPD failed in 2003 when judges at the country's highest court rejected the government's case after it emerged that some of the testimony was from government informants within the party.

The calls for a ban on Germany's largest neo-Nazi party - which has won parliamentary seats in two eastern states in recent regional elections - were the latest response to last weekend's disturbing outbreak of xenophobic violence.

Local people in the small town in the east German state of Saxony were enjoying the final hours of an annual street party on Saturday night when a drunken mob of 50 youths rampaged through a market and started harassing eight Indian stall holders who were selling textiles.

Shouting, "Get out of Germany" and chanting the far right slogan "Long live the national resistance" the gang chased the terrified Indians, who took refuge in a pizzeria and tried to barricade themselves in with the restaurant's tables. However, the mob smashed their way into the building, kicking and punching the Indians and attacking them with bottles. More than 70 heavily armed riot police rescued them. Gurminder Singh, one of the injured men, appeared on German television with a six-inch long head wound.

Amal, one of the main anti-Nazi groups in the region, said there had been 137 neo-Nazi attacks on individuals in Saxony during the first half of 2007, but believes the unofficial figure is much higher.

A recent survey conducted by the Forsa research group showed that every second east German youth between the age of 14 and 25 believed that National Socialism had " good sides".

The NPD won seats in Saxony in the state's last elections, and also captured seats in Ms Merkel's home state of Mecklenburg-Pomerania last year, when violent crimes by far-right extremists reached their highest level since the country's reunification in 1990. Rising far-right violence prompted Ms Merkel's predecessor, Gerhard Schröder to launch an attempt to ban the NPD in 2003, but the result was a legal fiasco. A ban was rejected by Germany's Karlsruhe constitutional court after it established that most of the evidence against the far-right party was inadmissible as it had been collected by government intelligence agents who had infiltrated the organisation.

Independent