Jewish official: “German civil society must mobilize against hate crime”

Berlin, Germany — German Interior Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble, members of the parliament and ministerial representatives attended a local synagogue prayer service Thursday afternoon to show their support for the Jewish community following the attack over the weekend against a Jewish kindergarten.

The prayer service was also intended to express the community’s concern about the increase of hate related crime.

Rabbi Yehuda Teichtal, of the Berlin Chabad Lubavitch Synagogue which runs the Gan-Israel kindergarten, was astounded by the large showing despite the short time he had to organise the gathering.

“What hurts us the most is that the perpetrators vandalised the toys that children play with,” Teichtal told European Jewish Press.

Although the school was empty last Sunday, the violence aimed at minorities in Germany has taken a new turn, as this was the first time that children have been targeted.

Pluralist society

During the ceremony, Teichtal showed no sign of covering to the threats posed to the Jewish community.

“We won’t let this stop us, our community will continue to grow and prosper… but we need to work together with the public so that such attacks against a pluralist society can be stopped,” the American born rabbi said.

He reiterated the words that German authorities had been using that “an attack on Jews was an attack not just on minorities as a whole, but also on the entire civil society”.

Gideon Joffe, head of Berlin’s Jewish Community, said that the 50 percent rise in hate crimes against minorities could no longer be tolerated.

“People are afraid to show who they are, Jews, Muslims and other minorities, because they know that they could potentially be the next victim of an attack,” Joffe said.

He challenged “all those Germans who say they want an end to the debate about the Nazi past to wear the kippah (skullcap) or a Star of David so they can experience the anti-Semitism that German Jews are confronted with on a daily basis”.

“If statistics have any meaning, then at least 60% of you will have ended the day’s challenge having experienced some form of racism or xenophobic comment,” Joffe said.

No civil society mobilization

Stephan Kramer, secretary general of the Central Council of Jews in Germany told European Jewish Press that he wanted to make sure that everyone understands that this was not a Jewish issue.

“Many people do not realise that many more Muslim women, for example, would actually wear a head covering if they knew that they could be reassured that they would not fall victim to racism. People are hiding themselves and their identities and this is what has become an intolerable situation,” Kramer said.

Kramer made clear that anti-Semitism in Germany is not worse than in other countries.

But he expressed concern that many young Germans who have shown civil courage by building coalitions against racism have themselves been increasingly victims of extreme right violence.

“While we are delighted to see the solidarity reactions from politicians, the society as a whole has not mobilised itself against the potential threat,” Kramer said.

Gideon Joffe said that the problem is that ordinary citizens feel that it is the duty of government and the police to deal with public order and not themselves.

He also pointed to a recent Bertelsmann Foundation poll that shows 40% of Germans believe that the National Socialist dictatorship “had some positive aspects” to it.

“If ordinary citizens would have felt an inkling of duty to combat such hate crimes, then why aren’t they here today,” Joffe lamented.