On Friday, members of the radical far-right National Democratic Party (NPD) in the German state of Saxony walked out of the state parliament when a moment of silence for the Holocaust was observed. They also described the bombing of Dresden by the Allies as a "Holocaust of bombs." Several German leaders insist that such provocative behavior is cause to once again try to ban the party's existence. An attempt to bar it from all political activity failed in March 2003 after it was discovered government informants had infiltrated the highest levels of the NPD. Friday's event outraged people across Germany and continues to dominate the editorial pages in the lead-up to the 60th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz this week. And Chancellor Gerhard Schroder has become the latest to throw his hat into the ring, saying he would support a renewed attempt at a ban.

The conservative daily Die Welt sees such a ban as unnecessary. "A court cannot take this burden off our shoulders," it writes. "The incident was without a doubt a shocking abuse of the dead and an unacceptable display of vulgarity -- but there are no grounds for a party ban." The Germans, it continues, when remembering the Holocaust, World War II and National Socialism no longer need to be provoked into feeling insecure. The country has reached a certain gravity and complexity in its remembrance which enables the people to stand up to these taboo breakers in a relaxed but firm way."

The center-right Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung agrees, at least to some extent, insisting that any sort of publicity the party gets -- including the sort it got when legislators try to ban it -- works in its favor and "gives it too much glory." Plus, it puts mainstream legislators in a legally dubious position. "What the NPD does show is finesse -- through targeted provocation the political establishment is supposed to have its reserve broken down to such an extent as to let itself be led into an excessive use of its power. This party must be made politically impossible. And there are plenty of flanks along which to attack."

The Berliner Zeitung, also believes seeking a ban of the party is the wrong way to attack. Instead, the paper argues, society has to look at the individuals responsible. "It's not racism that we have to fight, but the racist, not anti-Semitism that we have to repel, but the anti-Semite, regardless if he wears Nazi combat boots or a three-piece suit."

Finally, Germans are also looking hopefully across the Atlantic, where German Foreign Minister Joschka Fischer is today meeting with United States Secretary of State-designate Condoleezza Rice. One of Germany's top priorities is to gain a permanent seat on the UN Security Council. According to a Die Welt feature, Washington wants to turn German eagerness to its benefit by using good ties with Germany to melt trans-Atlantic frostiness. For its part, the paper says, "Germany wants to get itself out from the all-too warm French embrace." In such a case, America is glad to be of service, the paper writes.