He Cited ‘Glorious Times’ Before Holocaust : German Parliament Head Resigns After Hitler Speech

The president of Parliament resigned Friday, bowing to condemnation of a speech in which he said many Germans believed that Adolf Hitler brought “glorious times” before the Holocaust and global war.

Philipp Jenninger referred to Hitler’s early years as a “triumphal procession” in an address that also condemned the Nazi attempt to annihilate European Jews.

The 56-year-old Christian Democrat said he had been misunderstood, was shocked by the reaction and felt “deeply sorry” for any offense caused by his remarks Thursday on the 50th anniversary of Kristallnacht, the rampage against Jews that began the Nazi genocide.

Jenninger emphasized his own record as a foe of totalitarian regimes.

The furor overshadowed West Germany’s carefully planned ceremonies for the anniversary of the night of terror, Nov. 9-10, 1938, which the Nazis named Kristallnacht, or Crystal Night, for the shattered glass that littered the streets.

Nazi thugs destroyed 267 synagogues in what is now West Germany, killed 91 Jews, rounded up 30,000 for shipment to concentration camps, destroyed Jewish homes and ransacked 7,500 Jewish businesses. The same thing happened in Austria, Hitler’s homeland, which he had annexed to the Third Reich eight months earlier.

Kristallnacht began what became known as the Holocaust, in which 6 million Jews were killed.

In a television interview Friday night, Jenninger said he had hoped to reach young people by describing horrors of the Nazi past, but “you have to learn that you can’t call everything by its name in Germany.”

Michael Fuerst, deputy chairman of the Central Council of Jews in West Germany, defended the politician.

“I welcome that the Parliament president described in full clarity what was happening in Germany between 1933 and 1938, especially the fact that everything that Hitler did was strongly supported by the masses of all Germans,” he said in a television interview Thursday night.

On Friday, Neue Presse of Hanover quoted Jewish Council chairman Heinz Galinski as saying of Jenninger: “No one is supporting him. That’s shown by the numerous protests that have reached me from all Jewish communities.”

Whatever his intent, Jenninger’s speech contained lengthy references to the euphoria many Germans felt after Hitler gained power in 1933, occasionally without counterbalancing statements about the Nazi atrocities.

He used rhetorical questions in many passages, including this one:

“And as far as the Jews were concerned, hadn’t they claimed for themselves in the past a role that wasn’t right for them? Hadn’t they deserved being put back in their place? And above all, didn’t the propaganda--apart from the wild exaggeration not to be taken seriously--correspond in essential points to their own conjectures and convictions?

“And when it got so bad, as it was in November, 1938, people could still say, using the words of a contemporary-- ‘What’s it to us, look away if it terrifies you. It is not our fate.’ ”

About 50 members of Parliament began to walk out at that point in the speech, which was broadcast live on national television.

In his resignation announcement, Jenninger said: “The reactions to my speech . . . have deeply shocked me and have greatly depressed me.

“My speech was not understood by many listeners the way I had intended it to be. I am deeply sorry and I am very hurt if I have offended the feelings of others.

“During my whole political career . . . I have been active in working for reconciliation with the Jews and for the vital interests of the state of Israel.”

“I always have been an uncompromising foe of every type of totalitarian rule,” he said, and cited “the experiences of my parents under the Nazi regime, who were opposed to the dictatorship and as a result had to accept disadvantages.” He did not describe the disadvantages.

Close Aide to Kohl

Jenninger did not say whether he would continue in Parliament. He has been a member since 1969 and was a close aide to Chancellor Helmut Kohl before becoming president four years ago.

The presidency of Parliament is largely ceremonial, but in terms of diplomatic protocol it is the No. 2 public office after the federal presidency.

Hans-Jochen Vogel, leader of the opposition Social Democrats, told reporters after Jenninger’s resignation: “This event shows us how the darkest chapter of German history is still a present-day thing.”

A statement by the leftist Greens party said: “The background of what happened is the inability of many Germans to stand up to their own past.”

‘Unfortunate Speech’

An editorial in the Frankfurter Rundschau said it was “perhaps the most unfortunate speech that was ever made in the Federal Republic” but also said of Jenninger: “You can grant him the good intention of wanting to give a worthy, perhaps even great, contribution to the memory of the crimes of the Third Reich on this historic day.”

In his speech Thursday, Jenninger described the positive feelings of many Germans in the early Hitler years:

“Didn’t Hitler bring to reality what (Kaiser) Wilhelm II had only promised, that is, to lead the Germans to glorious times? Wasn’t he chosen by Providence, a Fuehrer such as is given to a people only once in a thousand years?

“For the fate of the Germans and European Jews, Hitler’s successes were perhaps even more fateful than his crimes and misdeeds. The years from 1933 to 1938, even from a distant retrospective and in the knowledge of what followed, still are a fascinating thing today, since throughout history there was hardly a parallel to Hitler’s triumphal procession during the first years.”