German Parliament Head Steps Down

BONN, West Germany--The president of Parliament resigned yesterday, bowing to condemnation of a speech in which he said many Germans felt Adolf Hitler brought "glorious times" before the Holocaust and global war.

Philipp Jenninger referred to Hitler's early years as a "triumphal procession" in an address that also condemned the Nazi attempt to annihilate European Jews.

The 56-year-old Christian Democrat said he had been misunderstood, was shocked by the reaction and felt "deeply sorry" for any offense caused by his remarks Thursday on the 50th anniversary of Kristallnacht, the rampage against Jews that began the Nazi genocide.

Jenninger emphasized his own record as a foe of totalitarian regimes.

In a television interview yesterday, Jenninger said he had hoped to reach young people by describing horrors of the Nazi past, but "you have to learn that you can't call everything by its name in Germany."

Michael Fuerst, deputy chairman of the Central Council of Jews in West Germany, defended the politician. "I welcome that the Parliament president described in full clarity what was happening in Germany between 1933 and 1938, especially the fact that everything that Hitler did was strongly supported by the masses of all Germans," he said in a television interview.

Neue Presse of Hanover yesterday quoted Jewish Council chairman Heinz Galinski as saying of Jenninger: "No one is supporting him That's shown by the numerous protests that have reached me from all Jewish communities."

Whatever his intent, Jenninger's speech contained lengthy references to the euphoria many Germans felt after Hitler gained power in 1933, occasionally without counterbalancing statements about the Nazi atrocities.

He used rhetorical questions in many parts of the speech, including this one:

"And as far as the Jews were concerned, hadn't they claimed for themselves in the past a role that wasn't right for them? Hadn't they deserved being put back in their place? And above all, didn't the propaganda--apart from the wild exaggeration not to be taken seriously--correspond in essential points to their own conjectures and convictions?

"And when it got so bad, as it was in November 1938, people could still say, using the words of a contemporary--'What's it to us, look away if it terrifies you. It is not our fate.'"

About 50 members of Parliament began to walk out at that point in the speech, which was broadcast live on national television.

Jenninger did not say whether he would continue in Parliament. He has been a member since 1969 and was a close aide to Chancellor Helmut Kohl before becoming president four years ago.

The presidency of Parliament is largely ceremonial, but in terms of diplomatic protocol is the No. 2 public office after the federal presidency.

The furor overshadowed West Germany's carefully planned ceremonies for the anniversary of the night of terror Nov. 9-10, 1938, which the Nazis named Kristallnacht, or Crystal Night, for the shattered glass that littered the streets.

Nazi thugs destroyed 267 synagogues in West Germany, killed 91 Jews, rounded up 30,000 for shipment to concentration camps, destroyed Jewish homes and ransacked 7,500 Jewish businesses. The same thing happened in Austria, Hitler's homeland, which he had annexed to the Third Reich eight months earlier.

Kristallnacht began what became known as the Holocaust, in which 6 million Jews were killed.