By Israel National News and COLlive
The mayor of the German city of Dortmund Ullrich Sierau asked authorities to ban the neo-Nazi ‘Die Rechte’ party following its demand to count local Jews.
The party reportedly demanded that the mayor send a list of the city’s Jews, a request that the mayor promptly refused, news site Ynet reported.
According to various reports, the party, known as Die Rechte (The Right), sent a letter to the mayor asking for a list of the names of all Jews living in the city and its surroundings, along with their addresses.
According Ynet, Die Rechte said that in order to properly take care of city residents, it needed to know the size of each religious community in order to “do their job.”
Dennis Giemsch, the only city council member from the party, asked that the information be transmitted at a board meeting Wednesday night. His request was denied emphatically.
The Daily Mail reports that the letter was then sent to the North Rhine-Westphalia Ministry of the Interior as part of an effort to ban the party.
The mayor of Dortmund has harshly condemned the demand in a press release, calling it “inhuman.” According to the statement, the municipality said it is “happy that people feel at home in Dortmund.”
The municipality also posted a tweet saying that the Jewish community of Dortmund was an integral part of society.
The city’s Jewish Council also condemned the neo-Nazi party request, saying that its “true intentions” were evident, calling them “odious, treacherous and anti-Semitic.”
Rabbi Menahem Mendel Vilenkin, Director of Chabad Lubavitch of Dortmund, told COLlive that the move would not affect his ongoing activities which began in 2012.
“We try to reach and encourage Jews who are afraid to express their Judaism in public,” he said about the estimated 5,000 Jewish residents in Germany’s 8th largest city.
“We hope the government will do what it needs to in the area of security,” Vilenkin said. “We know certain steps have been taken, including an effort to outlaw (the party). Either way, this is not a substantial threat to the Jewish community.”
Looking forward, he said: “We are standing before the holiday of Chanukah and we intend to reach as many Jews as possible to light within them the light of Chanukah and Judaism. This is the spiritual response of Chabad.”
“We, as the Shluchim of the Rebbe, are sure that a little light dispels a lot of darkness and we are sure that also here, an addition of Jewish and spiritual light will dispel darkness.”
Wonderful work by the shliach in Dortmund, BH!!