Berlin – A Jewish leader in Germany is pressing the government to do more to combat anti-Semitism; specifically, by appointing a special commissioner.
Subscribe to our Daily Roundup Email
Charlotte Knobloch, former head of the Central Council of Jews in Germany, said she feels Jewish life in Germany is in danger. The close of 2017 has been marked by numerous violence-tinged anti-Israel protests in Germany and a spectacular old-style, neo-Nazi outburst that set social media on fire.
The incidents prompted debate and discussion about how best to combat the problem and ensure the viability of Germany’s Jewish communities. There are some 100,000 identified members of Jewish communities nationwide, and another 100,000 who identify as Jews but are unaffiliated.
The best way to fight back is to appoint a commissioner to deal with such issues, Knobloch said in a radio interview with Heilbronner Stimme on Friday. Vandals in Heilbron, in the state of Baden-Württemberg, recently attacked and damaged a large public Hanukkah menorah.
This kind of aggressive anti-Semitism – on the street and on the Internet – have become ubiquitous, said Knobloch, who survived World War II in hiding with a non-Jewish German family and has seen the reestablishment of Jewish life across the country, including in her home city of Munich.
With the growing Jewish population – especially due to the influx of former Soviet Jews after 1990 – has come increased visibility and increased risk. Though old-style anti-Semitism remains constant in mainstream society, the newest threat comes from political anti-Semitism, which aims at Jews and their houses of worship or other institutions as stand-ins for Israel.
There is increasing concern about anti-Semitism among Muslims in Germany, both those who have lived in the country for decades and recent refugees who bring anti-Semitic attitudes from their home countries.
Recent anti-Israel demonstrations in German cities, triggered by U.S. President Donald Trump’s reiteration of American support for Jerusalem as Israel’s capital, were characterized by the burning of makeshift Israeli flags and anti-Jewish chants.
While events in the Middle East often trigger upsurges in anti-Semitism, observers also say that the rise of a right-populist political party has been accompanied by a loosening of taboos against all sorts of xenophobia in mainstream society, including the virulent neo-Nazi variety.
In Berlin, a recent verbal barrage by a right-wing extremist against an Israeli restaurateur was captured on video, posted online, and went viral, prompting discussion and debate about how to deal with such cases. The 60-year-old man was arrested and later released pending an investigation.
Many Jewish leaders in Germany support the call for a government-appointed expert on anti-Semitism, to oversee the collection of data on incidents and the response nationwide.
Knobloch said the appointee must have experience and training; it should not be a mere symbolic position, she said, adding that she was very concerned about the reported increase in anti-Semitic incidents. “[P]olice protection and … the most serious security precautions” have become the norm, she said.
What do they expect? Nothing has changed, despite protestations & so-called guilt. Get rid of the Muslims who are stirring up the latent Nazis or once again, Jewish blood will be spilled in Germany. Because as much as the Nazis despise Muslims, we have always been the first port of call in racial/religious cleansing.
Maybe im missing something here, but i dont understand why anyone would want to live or visit germany as many israrelis and non israelis do. Germay?! FEH. Leave the amulakim in their own country and go somewhere else.
Hashem, please save your people and bring us back to our own land, the only land we belong to.
It’s not just Germany that it is impossible to live in, it is also most Latin American countries due to constant kidnapping and burglary, and other European countries with anti-semitism.
This is nothing compared to the increasing size of debt in all these countries, and terrible demographics, which will eventually make all Jews go back to our own land. May Hashem lead us back before the bubbles bursts…
Shame on all those Jews walking in streets saturated with our grandparents blood!
i was born In Vienna and from there in 1941 my parents and I were deported to Lodz Ghetto and I was liberated in Buchenwald on 4 -11-1945. I was in Vienna in 1950 and one women who knew me aS A CHILD said you are alive. Germany has the mamzerim of the Einsatzgruppen SS death squad who told women how to hold their children when they were shot. This is the the human garbage of the SS from Auschwitz, Treblinka and Majdanek. A lot of the current Jewish population in Germany are yordim and Russians. How any Jew can live there even if he/she did not see what I saW can live there to me is unbelievable. YMSH Germany although they supplied eretz yisroel with the best submarines the delphin. Believe or not you can buy in Berlin cholev yisrolel and pas yisroel and of course glatt kosher meat. This is unreal
The more we talk, the more antisemitism we cause. We shld shush up and know that were in galus and need to stay strong despite it all.
You are 100% right. My zeidy was also born in Vienna & my husband & I were vacationing in Italy & took a trip to find his birthplace. Surprisingly, it was still standing, as was the shul, with a plaque commemorating Kristallnacht.
Vienna is the coldest city I have ever been in. We got such looks from the locals as we sat in the main square (along with goyim) eating our packed lunch. Unfortunately, I have returned a few times since as my children live in a nearby country. It doesn’t get any easier to go there, I hate it.
As for living in Germany – I don’t understand it either. I was once stuck in Frankfurt airport and I have never taken a flight with a stop over in Germany, or one in France, since. Europe is another Holocaust waiting to happen & I have begged my children to leave.
We left the USA because of growing antisemitism during the Reign of Terror AKA Obama regime, & made Aliyah. We feel safe here, even with the Arabs.
If we learned from history we’d be more anti muslim. Its not about the nation who commits the crime. Nations come and go. Rome is still Rome but its not the evil Romans who wrecked the most havoc since the beis hamikdosh’s destruction.
And Spain is still the same Spain yet its’s not the same anti semties that burned us at the stake.
What we need to learn from history is that any nation or religion or sector of religion that has large numbers or groups of people within that call for our destruction is our enemy and we must be ware of them. Its not about the specific country of origin 100 years later.
PS I also still hate Germany and Germans with a vemin.
The majority, if not all of the attacks against Jews in Germany, are coming from Muslims, which Angela Merkel let in. Although the native German population may harbor anti-semitic feelings, there have been no reports of incidents against Jews, outside of that nut, who was arrested outside of a kosher restaurant, recently., for shouting biased comments. Regarding Berlin, during World War Two, over 1,000 Jews hid in Berlin throughout World War Two, and were saved. Also, another 1,000 hid throughout other areas in Germany.