‘No havens’ for Christian refugees

Germany is trying to make up for the crimes it committed in two world wars by opening its doors to all refugees from conflict areas, but it has failed to see the dangers of such a policy, Lord (George) Weidenfeld told the national Sunday Welt am Sonntag in a long interview on 13 December, writes Christa Pongratz-Lippitt.

“The Germans are concentrating fully on mourning for their grandfathers’ guilt ... At the moment the German authorities cannot even check the identity of the refugees that are coming in, but the German public is euphoric. At last they will be seen as good people and Hitler will be eradicated. But that is ignorance. It means accepting tomorrow’s crimes to make good for yesterday’s wrongdoing,” Weiden­feld said. The 96-year-old Jewish phil­anthropist, who made his fortune from publishing, said the West was blind to the danger that it was risking when it failed to insist that all immigrants must distance themselves from intolerance and violence. He founded the charity “Safe Havens” for Christian refugees from Syria. “It is very strange. People are even reproaching us for being selective,” he said.