A senior German central bank official has triggered a storm of protest after an extract of his new book was released in which he said Jews all have the same genes and Muslim immigrants cannot integrate.
Thilo Sarrazin, a member of the six-man board at the influential Bundesbank, has been condemned by German government officials and immigrant leaders after excerpts from his new book, ‘Germany does away with itself’ said “all Jews share the same gene”.
In the extracts, published by the Welt am Sonntag, Mr Sarrazin writes: “Jews share a particular gene, Basques share particular genes, that differentiate them from others.
“The cultural peculiarities of the people is no myth, but determines the reality of Europe.”
Regarding Muslim immigrants, he continues: “I don’t want the country of my grandchildren and forefathers to be in broad swathes Muslim, where Turkish and Arabic is widely spoken, where women wear headscarves and where the daily rhythm of life is set by the call of the muezzins.
“If I want to experience that, I can just take a vacation in the Orient.”
He theorises that if the fertility rate of German “autochthons” remains at the same level it has been for the past 40 years, then population figures will drop to 20 million, while the Muslim population “could grow by 2100 to 35 million”.
Mr Sarrazin, 65, who says his comments are not racist, argues that immigrants from countries such as Turkey depend on the state and bring down the country’s education level.
Senior German politicians have demanded that Mr Sarrazin step down from his Bundesbank post and resign his party membership of the left-leaning Social Democrats.
Guido Westerwelle, Germany’s foreign minister, said that “remarks that feed racism or even anti-Semitism have no place in our political discourse,” while Karl-Theodor zu Guttenberg, the defence minister, said Mr Sarrazin had “overstepped the borders of provocation.”
Leaders of Germany’s Jewish and Muslim communities also condemned the banker’s remarks.
Stephan Kramer of the Central Council of Jews in Germany said: “Whoever tries to identify Jews by their genetic makeup succumbs to racism”, while Kenan Kolat, a leading member of Germany’s Turkish community, called on the Angela Merkel, the German Chancellor, to expel Mr Sarrazin from his Bundesbank post.
Mr Sarrazin sparked controversy in October when he said Turks were “conquering Germany in exactly the same way the Kosovars conquered Kosovo: with a higher birth rate.”
He added: “A large number of Arabs and Turks in this city (Berlin) have no productive function other than selling fruit and vegetable.” He later apologised for the remarks
A government survey in 2009 found that the Muslim population in Germany likely is between 3.8 million and 4.3 million – meaning Muslims make up between 4.6 and 5.2 per cent of the population. The overall number of Germans with immigrant roots, including Muslim and non-Muslim immigrants, stands at more than 16 million, nearly one in five of the country’s 82 million inhabitants.
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/germany/7970518/Bundesbank-official-all-Jews-have-the-same-genes.html, 29 Aug 2010
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