Jews and Turks in Germany after 9/11 · 83German Turks are Germans. Çınar compared the pogrom in Mölln to
anti-Semitic events in Germany during Nazism. Reminding the audience
of the Holocaust, he emphasized that German Turks, as residents of Ger-
many, should be ready to shoulder this part of German history. Çınar
referred to former chancellor Helmut Kohl’s statement that the new gen-
eration of Germans is not responsible for the anti-Semitic German past
because they were not living at the time—his much quoted “grace of
late birth.” Çınar, on the other hand, allying himself with a left-liberal
German position, emphasized that neither is there a grace of late birth
nor a grace of foreign birthplace. According to him, if Turks want to be
residents of Germany, they are responsible for German history and take
upon themselves German national memory:
As residents of this country, we must share responsibility for this
past crime. I don’t know how to define this share—maybe it doesn’t
need any definition—we must take on our share of responsibility.
And we must be ready to carry this responsibility with us. Ladies
and gentlemen, I would like to formulate it as follows: There can
be no grace of late birth... and there can be no grace of another
birthplace.^48After various anti-Semitic incidents, the TBB has shown solidarity with
the Jewish Community in Berlin. One example of the collaboration be-
tween these two associations occurred during the 2002 federal elections,
when the Free Democratic Party (FDP) politician Jamal Karsli compared
Israel’s tactics in the West Bank to “Nazi methods.” The vice president of
the party, Jürgen Möllemann, went on to offend a leader of the Central
Council of Jews, Michel Friedman, by stating that Friedman’s behavior
inspired anti-Semitism. With these anti-Israel and anti-Semitic political
tactics, Karsli and Möllemann hoped that their party would gain right-
wing German and Muslim votes in Germany.^49 But in response, the TBB
joined members of the Jewish community in front of the FDP’s headquar-
ters to protest the anti-Semitic election campaign. In the European edi-
tion of a major Turkish newspaper, Hürriyet, Möllemann’s anti-Semitic
campaign aimed at attracting Muslim votes was severely condemned.^50
In return for its showing solidarity, the TBB received a positive re-
sponse from the Jewish Community in Berlin. The Mölln commemoration
is an example of Jewish support—a few Jewish representatives attended
the event and brought greetings. Moreover, when the TBB established