Czech Jewish leaders condemn ‘Nazi-style’ poster featuring a priest

JTA — Czech Jewish leaders compared a new campaign against restitution of church property to anti-Semitic, Nazi propaganda.

The poster of the new campaign of the Czech Social Democratic Party shows a priest’s arm reaching for a bag of money.

The Federation of Jewish Communities in Czech Republic said in a statement cosigned by two other Christian organizations that the poster “rivals the disastrous anti-Semitic posters of the Third Reich.”

The Czech Social Democratic Party launched the campaign in opposition to a government-sponsored plan to compensate 17 religious denominations to the tune of $3.69 billion for property nationalized after 1945.

On Thursday, the Senate rejected the plan by a vote of 43-34. The lower house of the Czech Parliament had approved the plan in a close vote last month. Jewish and Christian institutions support the plan.

The lower house is scheduled to vote again next month and will need a majority of its 202 members for passage.

In addition to restitution, the plan also proposes to stop all state funding for faith groups by 2029. The Czech government spends approximately $70 million annually on the salaries of clergymen.

“The campaign of the Czech Social Democratic Party is not only reminiscent of Third Reich propaganda, but it is also a complete reversal of reality,” Petr Papousek, vice chairman of the Czech Jewish federation, told JTA. “The religious denominations are not stealing money, but receiving back what has been stolen from them.”

The poster, he added, “creates an atmosphere of hate, distrust and jealousy.”