Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: FRIDAY, June 4, 1993 TAG: 9306040014
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A-3 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: The Washington Post
DATELINE: COLOGNE, GERMANY LENGTH: Medium
In a funeral address that implored Germans to show "civil courage" in fighting neo-Nazism, von Weizsaecker said the murders of Turks at Solingen on Saturday and at Moelln last fall "are not unrelated, isolated atrocities. Rather, they spring from a climate generated by the extreme right. Even criminals acting alone do not emerge from nothing."
He called right-wing violence in Germany "a danger to our civilization."
Von Weizsaecker, speaking before a tense, sometimes violent crowd outside Cologne's largest mosque, did not mention Chancellor Helmut Kohl by name, but he made clear his deep differences with Kohl on the path that Germany must follow to ease tensions between foreigners and Germans.
In Germany, the presidency is a mostly ceremonial position that von Weizsaecker has turned into a pulpit for moral leadership; the chancellor is head of government.
The funeral drew a large delegation of government ministers from Turkey, as well as representatives of other countries.
After the service, Turkish youths ran through Cologne streets shouting "Nazis out!" and smashing store windows. A huge show of police force appeared to prevent what officials had feared would be a major eruption of violence.
Despite requests from Turkish groups that he make a symbolic gesture toward Germany's largest minority, Kohl did not attend the funeral or a ceremony in Solingen.
Kohl's spokesman, Dieter Vogel, issued a statement expressing sympathy for the victims' families but also warning that violence "will not be tolerated. Foreigners who commit criminal acts will be deported from Germany."
In both Solingen and Cologne, mention of Kohl's name brought angry jeers and whistles from the crowd. "Where is the chancellor?" some Turks chanted.
This week, Kohl aides and government ministers have described the Solingen firebombing as a crime committed by Christian Riha, a troubled 16-year-old acting entirely on his own, with no political meaning. Law enforcement officials Thursday refused to comment on reports that Riha has close ties to neo-Nazis.
Von Weizsaecker said that even if the Solingen murders were the work of one person, "right-wing extremist violence, however mindless, is politically motivated. It has increased. . . . When youths become arsonists and murderers, the fault does not lie entirely with them, but with all of us who influence their upbringing - families and schools, clubs and communities, and we politicians."
by CNB