German MP sacked in anti-Semitism row

Germany’s conservative opposition party has expelled an MP from its parliamentary group, after he compared Jews and Nazis.

Christian Democrats voted 195-28 to sack Martin Hohmann but some party officialswere dismayed about the level of opposition. Sixteen members abstained and four cast invalid ballots.

“The result is unambiguous, though it shows that many colleagues struggled on a personal level,” party chairwoman Angela Merkel said in Berlin. “But I believe it is politically the right thing and without alternative.”

The decision reflected the sensitivity in Germany even 60 years after the Holocaust. It means Hohmann can no longer speak or vote for the Christian Democrats in parliament, though he remains an MP.

Hohmann was widely accused of anti-Semitic stereotyping for an speech marking German Unity Day in which he compared Jews and Nazis, citing an allegedly prominent role of Jews in Russia’s 1917 communist revolution.

The scandal grew when Germany’s special forces commander was sacked last week for writing a letter to Hohmann praising his “courage” for making the speech.

Hohmann, 55, publicly apologised but defied party demands to retract his remarks, which outraged Germany’s Jewish community and also some prominent conservatives.