Following the death of the President of Germany’s Central Council of Jews, Paul Spiegel, the President of the German Bishops’ Conference, Cardinal Karl Lehmann, issued a communiqué expressing his condolences on 30 April. “We have respect for the man who experienced the end of National Socialism living in hiding in Belgium and who, in spite of all the horrors he had experienced, chose to return to Germany”. Lehmann also recalled “the intensive talks” between Spiegel and “individual bishops, also in situations of conflict, from 2000 onwards”. “In Paul Spiegel we always found a representative of Judaism in our country who showed himself to be ever open and credible, convincing at the human level and willing to enter into dialogue. We deeply regret his loss. He was a highly esteemed partner also because he constantly defended his own convictions as a Jew while remaining at the same time a man of openness and tolerance, with a great understanding also of Christians. With him we have lost a passionate builder of bridges of dialogue with our Jewish compatriots”.
