Posted on 09/14/2005 3:01:26 PM PDT by Prudence Beresford
An Open Letter from Switzerland
To Siegfried Plattner Oberbürgermeister (mayor) der Stadt (City of) Gelsenkirchen Buer Rathaus 45894 Gelsenkirchen Germany siegfried.plattner@gelsenkirchen.de
Copy: Magazine Konkret, Ruhrstraße 111, 22761 Hamburg,Tel.040-8512530, redaktion@konkret-magazin.de, Internet: www.konkret-verlage.de
Spiegel Magazine spiegel_online@spiegel.de Marc_Pitzke@spiegel.de
HaGalil: hagalil@hagalil.com
Wiesenthal Center: Rabbi Abraham Cooper -- Associate Dean acooper@wiesenthal.com
Dr. Shimon Samuels csweurope@compuserve.com
Efraim Zuroff swcjerus@netvision.net.il
Mark Weitzman, Director, Task Force Against Hate taskforce@swcny.com
Bundesversicherungsanstalt Für Angestellte: Gelsenkirchen rentenversicherung@bundesknappschaft.de
Berlin bfa@bfa.de
Geneva, Switzerland September 4th. 2005
Dear Mr. Plattner;
Your city Gelsenkirchen, Germany, is proud to be one of the cities of the Soccer World Championship 2006. That´s why surely your city Gelsenkirchen wants to present itself as the utmost sophisticated and tolerant city, to shine in the eyes of the world with great tolerance.
But to my astonishment Mr. Mayor, there is one member of the town council, who is not very tolerant at all. His name: Friedhelm Rikowski. Rikowski is an official of the Bundesversicherungsantalt fuer Angestellte and an independent member of the Gelsenkirchen town council.
The former member of the Christlich-Demokratische Partei (CDU) and the former member of the Schill-Partei, he was fired from the Pro-Buerger-Partei (PBP) because of racist instigation.
Rikowski agitated for instance against the rebuilding of the Gelsenkirchen synagogue, which was destroyed by the former Nazi-regime.
But it seems that Mr. Rikowski does NOT have to bear the consequences for his behavior.
He is still a member of the town council and an official of the Bundesversicherunganstalt fuer Angestellte.
Mr. Mayor; in all due respect, do you find this a tolerable situation, considering Germany's past, and their tremendous willpower to fight and overcome Anti-Semitism, to fight the new facing of the renewal of Anti-Semitism, times and actions that recall to us sadly enough what we saw in the 30's and 40's. It started as well then always with one person, it ended into millions leading the hate and the atrocious deeds we can never forget. Situations start with words and lead do actions.
I am first generation Swiss, my family were holocaust survivors, having gone through the hell of Adolf Hitler and the Nazi's in the midst's of the city of Berlin, through the Kristallnacht, through infernal powers and facing death. If it would not have been for American troops and the allies to liberate us from this evil we would have perished along as well.
Do you find it acceptable that any person such as Friedhelm Rikowski should be allowed in his positions ?
I believe Sir, it is in Your interest and that of Germany to remove such person from their post, and condemn same strongly with the right measures within the legal system.
I am looking forward Mr. Mayor to have some positive answer from your office, showing us actions that will prove we can trust you in the fight of Racism and Anti-Semitism. Thank You for Your attention. Sincerely
Ms. G. Goldwater Switzerland, Geneva iii44@aol.com Internet Correspondent and Commentator http://goldwater.mideastreality.com/ Member of "Funding for Peace Coalition" [FPC] [www.euFunding.org ] FPC REPORT EXPOSES MASSIVE CONTRADICTIONS IN EUROPEAN AID TO PALESTINIANShttp://eufunding.org/FPC2004Report.pdf
The world is a dangerous place, not because of those who do evil, but because of those who look on and do nothing. --Albert Einstein
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