Germany: A German member of parliament who said Jews, like Germans, could be described as a "nation of perpetrators" retracted his comments yesterday after a storm of criticism, saying he had not intended to hurt anyone's feelings.
Mr Martin Hohmann (55), of the opposition Christian Democrats (CDU), had said in a speech that Germans' self-confidence was hurt by their association with the Holocaust while Jews themselves had committed crimes during the Russian revolution.
His comments have angered Jewish leaders, embarrassed CDU leaders and prompted Chancellor Gerhard Schröder's Social Democrats to call for his expulsion from the CDU and the Bundestag lower house of parliament.
In a speech on October 3rd, German Unity Day, Mr Hohmann said it was mainly Bolsheviks of Jewish descent who had taken part in mass executions during the 1917 Russian revolution. "Jews were active in large numbers at the leadership level and in Cheka execution squads," said Mr Hohmann, a reserve major in the German armed forces. - (Reuters)