Hindus laud Germany for doubling aid to Holocaust survivors

Nevada (US), Dec 08 (ANI): Hindus have applauded German government for reportedly agreeing to double the funding for home care of Holocaust survivors, raising it to about $147 million annually.

Hindu statesman Rajan Zed, in a statement in Nevada (USA) today, said that "it was the right thing to do". Hopefully it would cover the rising cost of home care for these victims who were elderly and really needed to be looked after.

This fund is reportedly distributed among Holocaust survivors scattered around 32 countries through a New York (USA) based organization and goes into home nursing-eating-dressing-bathing-etc. of the Holocaust affected.

Zed, who is President of Universal Society of Hinduism, however, urged Germany and its Chancellor Angela Merkel to show more tolerance to "outsiders". Instead of blaming multiculturalism as a failure, Merkel and other German leaders should make more efforts to create a society where all Germans could learn to live together in peace and mutual trust despite seriously different traditions, beliefs and backgrounds.

In a speech in Potsdam (Germany) on October 16, Merkel reportedly said that the so-called 'multikulti' concept, where people would 'live side-by-side' happily, utterly failed; and anybody not speaking German was not welcome. Horst Seehofer, Prime Minister of Bavaria, Germany's largest and oldest state, was quoted as saying in the recent past that 'multikulti' was dead and there was no room in Germany for more people from alien cultures. Various other German politicians have also expressed strong anti-immigrant feelings recently.

Rajan Zed further said that Merkel and others should show more maturity and responsibility when talking about "others" who were simply different, and not give in to unnecessary hysteria. It was simply irresponsible to stigmatize an entire ethnic community. Germany needed to stay away from the racist sentiment and chauvinism and check the facts on immigration more closely. "Others" living in Germany were also human beings and should have the same rights as any German.

Zed quoted "Leviticus 19:33-34": "When an alien resides with you in your land, you shall not oppress the alien. The alien who resides with you shall be to you as the citizen among you. You shall love the alien as yourself, for you were aliens in the land of Egypt. I am the LORD your God."

Rajan Zed argued that Germany; the country of Beethoven, Martin Luther, Einstein, and Goethe; needed to learn to be more inclusive, seek a unity that celebrated diversity, and create a national dialogue based upon mutual trust and understanding. According to reports, about 30 percent of Germans aged five years and younger have at least one parent who was born abroad and about 20 percent of its population had immigrant roots. Christian Wulff is German President.

Holocaust (Sho'ah) refers to systematic destruction of European Jewry between 1933-45. Exact numbers are hard to be calculated but estimated losses are given around six million.(ANI)