If you scream “Nazi!” long enough, people stop taking you seriously and when real Nazis come along, they won’t react.<\/p>\n
BERLIN (JTA)<\/a> \u2014 In what one German Jewish leader is calling a \u201cNazi renaissance,\u201d Germany\u2019s newest right-populist party \u2014 Alternative for Germany \u2014 has broken the Berlin barrier, gaining seats for the first time in that state\u2019s parliament.<\/p>\n The anti-immigrant, Euro-sceptic party, which has been plagued by controversies over anti-Semitism in its ranks, finished fifth in Sunday\u2019s vote with 14.1 percent. AfD, as the party is known, now has seats on legislatures in 10 states following several elections this year. The party was founded in 2013.<\/p>\n Winning the Berlin election was the Social Democratic Party, which retained power over the party of German Chancellor Angela Merkel, the Christian Democratic Union, with 21.6 percent of the vote to 17.5 percent.<\/p>\n AfD leaders were jubilant at the prospect of occupying 25 seats out of 160 in the state parliament of Germany\u2019s capital.<\/p>\n The elections are seen as a litmus test for Merkel\u2019s controversial refugee policy, with more than 1 million asylum seekers having entered the country from war-torn countries in the Middle East and Africa.<\/p>\n The head of the Central Council of Jews in Germany, Josef Schuster, told the German news media Sunday that the results were worrying.<\/p>\n A former council president, Charlotte Knobloch, who heads the Jewish Community of Munich and Upper Bavaria, issued a statement Sunday urging Germany\u2019s \u201cDemocratic parties to make good use of the time between now and the next elections in 2017 to stop the Nazi renaissance.\u201d<\/p>\n Three additional states will hold elections in the first half of 2017, followed by national parliamentary elections in September.<\/p>\n Knobloch, who survived the Holocaust in hiding as a child in Bavaria, called AfD \u201ca party that incites against minorities in a disgusting manner, that wants to make National Socialist terminology and approaches acceptable again, that is unable to distance itself credibly from neo-Nazis and Holocaust deniers.\u201d She said its gains in state parliaments are a \u201ctrue nightmare.\u201d<\/p>\n If the established parties don\u2019t manage to gain support by the national elections next year, Knobloch warned, \u201cI fear for the good and peaceful future of our country.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" If you scream “Nazi!” long enough, people stop taking you seriously and when real Nazis come along, they won’t react. BERLIN (JTA) \u2014 In what one German Jewish leader is calling a \u201cNazi renaissance,\u201d Germany\u2019s newest right-populist party \u2014 Alternative … Continue reading