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Germany Probes Statement Discouraging Jewish Tourists

The German government is investigating a statement made in a tourism report suggesting that American Jews, blacks, Hispanics and Asians be discouraged from visiting Germany.

The recommendation appeared in a 1984 market research report for a Frankfurt tourism agency, D.Z.T., which is largely subsidized by the German government.

Economics Minister Guenther Rexrodt said the idea of discouraging Americans from visiting Germany in shocking and that he would personally look into the matter.

The statement comes as a surprise to many, considering that the German government has gone out of its way to invite Americans, especially Jews, to visit Germany. A group of Jewish journalists is currently visiting the country on a trip paid for by the German government.

The Anti-Defamation League’s assistant national director, Ken Jacobson, said he has found no evidence of the statement becoming official policy, but that it does indeed exist.

“So many Jews have been invited to Germany, on fact-finding missions and government-sponsored visits, that it is clear that the government is interested in re-establishing the relationship, but there is still no excuse for the statement’s appearance,” Jacobson said.

This is the second time in a month that the German tourism office has been charged with anti-Semitism.

Two weeks ago, an employee was fired after 18 years, when it was discovered that she was married to a prominent figure in the Holocaust-denial movement and had herself translated an article of his for an anti-Semitic journal.