Original Source Location: http://dailynews.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story2&cid=518&ncid=732&e=10&u=/ap/20020906/ap_on_re_eu/germany_anti_semitism Study: Anti-Semitism Up in Germany Sep 6, 1:59 PM ET By David Rising, Associated Press Writer BERLIN (AP) - A new survey shows anti-Semitism is on the rise in Germany, with more than a quarter of people surveyed saying they believe Jewish influence is too great and 17 percent saying they believe Hitler would be viewed as a great statesman if not for the Holocaust, researchers said Friday. In one finding that contradicts popular perceptions, researchers at the University of Leipzig and Berlin's Free University said the increase in anti-Semitic feelings was greater in western Germany than in the former communist east. "The question is, why is there such a rise in the west?" said Elmar Braehler of Leipzig University. "One could say that the west Germans always thought this, but it was taboo — we don't know for sure." Increased tensions in the Middle East and open criticism of Israel could be behind the loosening of inhibitions in expressing anti-Semitic sentiment, he said. The findings come after the worst anti-Semitic attack in years, in which neo-Nazis firebombed a museum honoring the victims of the Nazi death march through Belower Woods, northwest of Berlin in eastern Germany. The fire was discovered early Thursday. The survey of 1,001 people in eastern Germany and 1,050 in the west in April also found 17 percent of Germans believe Hitler would be viewed as a great statesman if it weren't for the Holocaust, which killed 6 million Jews. The number of respondents who agreed with that view in the west was 19 percent — up 5 percent from 1994. Eastern respondents remained steady at 8 percent. The survey had a margin of error of less than two percentage points. Diedre Berger, Berlin director of the American Jewish Committee, said the survey backs up statistically what Jewish organizations have observed anecdotally for several years. "The problem of right-wing extremism and anti-Semitism in western Germany has sometimes been given less attention due to the continuing acute violence in eastern Germany, but just because there is less violence in western Germany doesn't mean that there is not a problem with anti-Semitic and right-wing extremist attitudes," Berger said. Despite Germany's efforts to confront the Holocaust, Berger said anti-Semitism in society has been overlooked. "I think it's time to start to confront the fact that anti-Semitic cliches and metaphors have been ingrained in German and European society and should be addressed," Berger said. In findings that support that, some 28 percent said Jewish influence was too great, while another 32 percent partially agreed. Overall, 53 percent of the respondents either agreed or partially agreed with the statement that "more than others, Jews cheat and use tricks in their work in order to get what they want." During the attack Thursday, ne-Nazis painted the Nazi "SS" symbols and the swastika on a memorial. They also set fire to the death march museum, destroying the main exhibition describing the Nazis' forced march of concentration camp inmates deeper into Germany ahead of the advancing Soviet Army, in which some 800 prisoners died. The area had not seen such a serious attack on a Holocaust memorial site since 1992, when neo-Nazis burned the rebuilt prisoner barracks inside the Sachsenhausen concentration camp outside Berlin.