Communism controversy
August 21, 2011
Germany's Left party paid tribute to the former Cuban leader Fidel Castro in a letter to mark his 85th birthday, it was reported on Saturday, August 20.
The party, which unites communists from both the former East and West Germany, lauded Castro for the socialist model he established in an official message from joint party leaders Gesine Lötzsch and Klaus Ernst.
"You can look back proudly on your life of battles and successful action at the head of the Cuban revolution," the pair wrote in the letter.
"Under your direction, Cuba has remained faithful to its ideals and led a new social development... Cuba was and is, for these reasons, a model and a reference point for many nations across the world," they said in the letter, which was reproduced in the German daily newspaper Bild.
The contents of the letter have drawn sharp criticism from other political parties, following similar controversy over leftist "nostalgia" for the Berlin Wall.
History lessons
As Germany this month marked 50 years since Berlin was divided by the barrier, a Left party youth magazine created a storm by praising the building of the wall, describing it as an "anti-fascist wall."
Lötzsch also created a stir by describing the construction of the wall as a "logical consequence" of the Second World War, comments seen as absolving the East German regime for limiting the freedom of its citizens.
More than 100,000 people tried to escape across - or underneath - the Wall between 1961 and its collapse on November 9, 1989. Of those, just 5,075 succeeded, and at least 70,000 were persecuted by the East German judiciary.
The Left party's parliamentary leader in the lower house, Gregor Gysi, added his voice to the criticism of Berlin Wall nostalgia in German newspaper Taggesspiegel am Sonntag.
Within his party, said Gysi, were people who "defend East Germany in order to defend their own life stories."
"It doesn't help," Gysi said. "The wall was nothing but stupidity."
Fidel Castro, who ceded power to his brother Raul five years ago, celebrated his birthday on August 13.
Author: Richard Connor (AFP, dpa)
Editor: Toma Tasovac