"While dictators rage and statesmen talk, all Europe dances — to The Lambeth Walk."

Friday 28 August 2009

Werkstatt der Kulturen to Remove Evidence of Grand Mufti's Collaboration with the Nazis

A slippery mess of sheer multicultural madness from Germany:

The publicly funded Multicultural Center's (Werkstatt der Kulturen) decision to remove educational panels of the Grand Mufti of Jerusalem, Hajj Muhammad Amin al-Husseini, who was an ally of Adolf Hitler, from an exhibit, sparked outrage on Thursday among a district mayor, the curator of the exhibit, and the Berlin Jewish community.

The famous photo of Adolf...

The curator, Karl Rössler, told The Jerusalem Post that it is a "scandal" that the director of the Werkstatt, Philippa Ebéné, sought to censor the exhibit.

"One must, of course, name that al-Husseini, a SS functionary, participated in the Holocaust," said Rössler.

The exhibit covers the "The Third World during the Second World War" and three exhibit panels of 96 are devoted to the mufti's collaboration with the Nazis.

The grand mufti delivered a talk to the imams of the Bosnian SS division in 1944, and was a key Islamic supporter of Nazi Germany's destruction of European Jewry.

Ebéné denied that there was an "agreement " reached with the local German-Muslim community to shut down the exhibit. She termed media queries regarding an agreement as "Eurocentric." [Ed - She sounds as brainwashed and deranged as any Nazi - Hitler would probably approve.]

She told the Post that the exhibit was intended as a "homage to soldiers from African" countries who fought against the Nazis.

When asked about her opposition to the inclusion of the mufti panels, she asked, "was there ever a commemoration event in Israel to honor the [African] soldiers?"

Rössler was notified last Friday that Ebéné wanted to take out the panels dealing with the grand mufti, but he rejected her demand to remove them.

Meanwhile, the exhibit in its uncensored version has been relocated to the UferHallen gallery.

Maya Zehden, a spokeswoman for the 12,000-strong Berlin Jewish community, told the Post that Ebéné's rejection of the exhibit showed "intolerance," and a director who is "incapable of acting in a democratic" manner.

Zehden urged that the Berlin government consider replacing Ebéné as director. Zehden also sharply criticized Günter Piening, Berlin's commissioner for integration and migration, for defending Ebéné's decision to censor the exhibit.

Piening told the large daily Tagesspiegel that, "We need, in a community like Neukölln, a differentiated presentation of the involvement of the Arabic world in the Second World War."

Zehden termed his statement "an appeasement attempt" to ignore the fact that "there was no official resistance from the Arabic world against the persecution of Jews" during the Shoah.

She accused Piening of showing a false tolerance to German-Arabs in the neighborhood by not wanting to deal with disturbances from the local community.

Piening issued conflicting statements to the Post. While denying his statement to the Tagesspiegel, he said, however, that his comment was stripped out of a context of quotes.

He said the "reason" for the removal of the grand mufti panels dealt with a "misunderstanding of the background of the exhibit."

In an e-mail to the Post, Heinz Buschkowsky, the district mayor in Neukölln, where the exhibit was originally planned, wrote, it is a sign of "anticipatory obedience to avoid probable protests. I do not consider this position to be good."

He added that Piening's statement is a "repression of the facts dealing with anti-Semitism."

The district mayor wrote that the center by its own "claim to stand for freedom, tolerance, and culture should be careful not to set off suspicion that it is imposing censorship."

I wonder if she will be including the mass rapes the "African soldiers" indulged in on their way across Europe in her little homage - or would that be a bit too close to the mark?*

This little episode demonstrates beautifully the narrative of our time: white people and Western culture are uniquely evil, and must be denigrated at all costs and hopefully destroyed - whilst all other peoples and cultures should be celebrated, their achievements shouted and overblown if necessary.

Such deranged fools should be entitled to their little fantasies - but not at the expense of genuine history.

The contact between Islam and Nazism is not only an important historical record, but a useful reference point for the modern world, because I believe Hitler and his ramblings are still widely celebrated in some parts of the world - I'll leave it to the reader to imagine which.

***UPDATE*** 29th August:

*I have been chastised for my racism by "a German national in Lambeth". I admit that my remark about African troops was provocative - it was meant to be.

Why?

We live in a time where any achievement claimed by Western people, those of European descent, whatever you prefer, must be very firmly balanced in the context of the tiniest wrong they have committed. We as a people are not supposed to bask in the glory of our past - we are supposed to hang our heads in shame. The wrong always outshines the right in the eyes of the modern world - no matter how small the former and how great the latter.

Such thinking has spread beyond the obvious to history of which the Left obviously approves, such as the defeat of Hitler.

We now can't celebrate our victory over the Nazis (whilst obviously taking the time to admit that mistakes were made and war is a terrible, tragic thing) without being told how bad we were, how many innocents we killed, how some of our leaders at that time were frankly war criminals.

Maybe this is good and fair - but if we believe it is so, then surely we must apply those standards equally?

So, my question remains - will the negative behaviour of troops from Africa be part of this display - or are we only being asked to celebrate, despite the outrageous actions of some? A comparison of these two Wikipedia articles suggest the answer to the last question is "yes."

We are all now familiar with the way that Russian troops behaved, en masse, when they reached German territory, and the shocking behaviour of some Allied soldiers is slowly coming to light. From what I understand, some North and black Africans had a similar group behaviour to the Soviets - with the good eggs being the exception, rather than the bad. After all, mass rape is a feature of warfare in Africa even today.

Will we be hearing from their victims? Or is their suffering less important than suppressing certain information?

After all, "German national in Lambeth" - we can only begin to erode racism if we apply the same moral standards to all people, regardless of skin colour - right?

10 comments:

Anonymous said...

You are portraying yourself as the defender of human rights and at the same time, you the editor, are claiming, unsubstantiated by history that African soldiers raped themselves through Europe. Do you really believe that this will help the cause of Mr Rössl. You are a disgrace to this blog. I am a German national living in Lambeth and I am appalled by your racism.

Sungod said...

I am aware that Philippa Ebene fought last year for the right of Iraqui Jew to speak at a fotographic exhibition against the wishes of the Arabic cultural institute during the Arabic cultural days.

Perhaps she is a little more sensitive to issues of discrimination than she is made out to be in your article. Let's just see the exhibition, which is supposed to be homage to the people of the third world during the second world war.

Anonymous said...

Muslims capture three israeli soldiers then remove their faces as flesh-masks while they are still alive, as proudly displayed here.

Loewe said...

Muslims bad - Jews good, discussions cannot be kept on that level.

The 1st Earl of Cromer said...

Anon 09:13:

All I claim is to despise double standards.

Therefore my question is more than valid - will the exhibition be dealing with the negative actions of the African troops?

Whilst I'm sure there were some brave men among them, I had several relatives who served with them at one time or another during WWII, and the stories they told would frankly make your hair curl.

But I suppose their experiences aren't valid, and they are just racists too, right?

Were they racists when they were liberating parts of Europe from SS troops, or does that label only kick in once they had helped create a multicultural paradise (clearly what they were fighting for)?

Perhaps some of us are sick and tired of celebrating others at the expense of our own heritage.

For the record, I am sick and tired of what has become of Lambeth and being told what I can and can't say.

The 1st Earl of Cromer said...

Sungod:

My article is pretty much a quote of the one in the Jerusalem Post; I can only report the information I have to hand.

Personally, whatever the situation with Ebene's personal beliefs, I find it obscene to remove such an important historic issue for something as trivial as 'celebrating the Third World'.

I think we knew that many countries fought - the clue is in the title 'Second World War'.

Incidentally, will the exhibition mention the Third Worlders who fought on Hitler's side? Like his Indian brigade, or indeed his Muslim backers and soldiers?

Just wondering.

The 1st Earl of Cromer said...

Loewe:

I'm sorry you have that impression - I can assure you I don't believe that, and no sensible person should.

Loesklein said...

The topic was an homage to those helping Jewish people during the second world war. Incidentally I know that Mrs Ebene's family was actively involved in saving Jewish kids, gypsies and Romas during the 3rd Reich. There is even a street named after one of her relatives who did so. His name was Rudolf Renz and he was a priest.

I don't think that the suggestion of Anti-semitism should stick, especially as she bravely stood up against physical threats from Arabs last year, when she invited a Jewish speaker to the Arabic cultural days.

Further to the claims of what Soldiers did during the second world war, I have no doubts that they were all horrific. There is no need to create rifts between any groups I find.

Further I find it disgusting how Mr Rössel is shouting anti-semitism and then leans back knowing exactly how this box of tinder will light up. Even Jewish groups in Germany were made instruments of his infamy.

The_Editrix said...

"Incidentally I know that Mrs Ebene's family was actively involved in saving Jewish kids, gypsies and Romas during the 3rd Reich."

Yes, she is busy marketing that herself and, in the context of this entry, so? Is that a legitimation for her to spout anti-white drivel?

Earl, your green on baby blue print is insufferable.

Anonymous said...

May I say that said district mayor is a known racist.