The modern image of Germany

In it's December 6 edition, the ,,Schlesisches Wochenblatt,"published in the Polish city of Opole, informs Polish citizens of the possibilities of acquiring the German passport. For persons over 29, according to the German regulations, it is important for the father to have been born and to have lived ,,between 1913 and 1945 on the territory of the German Reich (or in the Free City of Danzig) within the borders of 1937."Otherwise it must be proven, that he had been registered on the ,,so called German Volksliste."The ,,Volksliste"of the ,,Reichsfuhrer-SS"categorized ,,Germandom"in the occupied countries and decided over the value of human life in accordance with racialist characteristics. Therefore the use of the ,,Volksliste,"in current naturalisation procedures, excludes persons, who, according to the race selection established by the Nazis, did not have sufficient Germanic characteristics. The historic roots and the contents of the ,,Volkliste"are withheld from the readers of the ,,Schlesisches Wochenblatt."

Unworthy

The ,,Schlesisches Wochenblatt"also informs that the ,,forced labor of parents in Germany during World War II"is not a characteristic justifying ,,German ethnic membership or German citizenship."This indicates that descendants of former Polish forced laborers had attempted to acquire German passports, but were found unworthy, because they could not show evidence of a bloodline to German ancestry.

Madness

Through informing on how to acquire German passports the ,,Schlesisches Wochenblatt"is helping promote the German government's policy, of subjugating citizens of states of its eastern neighbors to German dominion, if they can convincingly show evidence that they are members of the ,,German ethnic group."Berlin is thus creating a privileged class of a German speaking population in neighboring countries, that based on their citizenship ties, could be receptive for future projects of the German government. Similar recent Hungarian projects were met with strong protests from Rumania and Slovakia. The Rumanian Prime Minister called Budapest's plans ,,madness."

Cultural identity

The ,,Institute for Foreign Relations"(ifa), which is financed by the Foreign Ministry, supports the ,,Schlesisches Wochenblatt"and, by its own admission is ,,annually [sending] university graduates and students to associations and editorial boards of the German minorities in Central, South-Eastern or Eastern Europe,"in the framework of its ,,culture and media assistance program."These ,,assistants"have the task of supporting the ,,cultural and medial work of the local German minority organizations and to improve their work with new ideas."This is directed ,,particularly at the younger generation." ¹⁾The main priority of this lobbying work is to ,,strengthen the cultural identity of the German minority"and to ,,convey a modern image of Germany." ²⁾In the meantime the ,,ifa"has already similarly become active in Poland, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Rumania, Russia and Kazakhstan. For example, it was under it's initiative that the youth radio station ,,German Voice"was established in the Polish Racibórz (Ratibor) in 1997. The radio station was given this name, even though, the name is identical with that of the [right extremist] NPD's (National Democratic Party of Germany) newspaper. ³⁾The ,,Landes-Zeitung"(regional newspaper), the ,,organ of the regional convention of Germans in Bohemia, Moravia and Silesia,"also supported by ,,ifa,"sees, according to its own admission, its function in ,,building bridges between the German minority in the Czech Republic and the Heimatvertriebene (ethnic Germans displaced after the Second World War) in Germany and Austria." ⁴⁾

Predecessor

,,ifa"considers itself to be an organ of the cultural policy of the Foreign Ministry. In June 2001 it could reflect back upon ,,50 years of reconstruction as successor to the German Foreign Institute,"as its General Secretary Dr. Kurt-Juergen Maass explained. ⁵⁾It was founded in 1917 in Stuttgart, as the ,,Museum and Institute for the knowledge of Germandom abroad and the promotion of German interests in other countries."On the occasion of its 20 anniversary in 1937, the ,,German Foreign Institute"(Deutsches Ausland-Institut, DAI) as this facility of numerous prominent Nazis was then called, was considered ,,the largest central employment for the whole of Germandom beyond the borders of the Reich." ⁶⁾The ,,ethnic researchers"employed there, were mainly preoccupied with defending against the assimilation of German minorities in South-Eastern Europe, ,,the harmful effects of bi-lingualism"and with the ,,ethnic-biological problems of Germandom abroad."DAI's most important sponsors were the Daimler-Benz Corp. and the IG Farbenindustrie Corp. ⁷⁾

,,Making space"

DAI's research formed the basis of the Nazi policy of Germanization, selection and annihilation during World War II. At the end of 1939, a member of the staff at the Institute, Wilhelm Gradmann, for example, commenced with the establishment of a ,,planning center"inside the ,,central immigration center in Litzmannstadt."This center, since autumn 1940, located in the Polish city of Lodz, was in charge of the settlement and naturalisation of aprox. 500.000 ,,ethnic German resettlers"coming from the Baltic region and Bessarabia to the eastern regions annexed by the German Reich. The ,,central resettlement centre"established at the same time, was in charge of ,,making space,"i.e. the simultaneously organized deportation and assassination of Poles and Jews. ⁸⁾

Today's successor organization ,,ifa"draws its financial support mainly through public budgets, two thirds of this, alone from the Foreign Ministry.

1) www.ifa.de/integration/assistenten.htm
2) www.ifa.de/integration/minderheit.htm
3) www.deutschestimme.vdg.pl/geschichte.html
4) www.landeszeitung.cz/indexb.htm
5) www.ifa.de/w/dwmaass_50jahre_ifa.htm
6) Erich Siebert, Die Rolle der Kultur- und Wissenschaftspolitik bei der Expansion des deutschen Imperialismus nach Bulgarien, Jugoslawien, Rumaenien und Ungarn in den Jahren 1938-1944. Mit einem Blick auf die vom westdeutschen Imperialismus wieder aufgenommene auswaertige Kulturpolitik (Diss.), Berlin (DDR) 1971, p. 318ff.
7) Karl Heinz Roth, Heydrichs Professor. Historiographie des Volkstums und der Massenvernichtungen: Der Fall Hans Joachim Beyer, in: Peter Schoettler (ed), Geschichtsschreibung als Legitimationswissenschaft 1918-1945, Frankfurt/M. 1997, p. 280 u. 327.
8) Wolfgang Benz u. a. (ed), Enzyklopaedie des Nationalsozialismus, 3. Aufl., Muenchen 1998, S. 443.

see also Berlin calls ,,expatriate germans"to the ballot boxes