Shocked by the wave of violent anti-Semitism in Germany following the Gaza conflict of 2014, the Central Council of Jews, apex body of Jewish organisations in Germany in called for the rally “Stand up! Never again anti-Semitism!” on September 14, 2014. The event was attended by German Chancellor Merkel, President Joachim Gauck and other senior government ministers.
Speaking under the banner of “Never Again”, leader of the Jewish community, Dr. Dieter Graumann said, “enough is enough” and “we do not want to be compelled to gather here again in two or three years’ time.”
The state ceremony graced by Chancellor Merkel and her entire cabinet is barely an year only and here we are again. 70 years after the end of Nazi Germany, the small Jewish community in Germany doesn’t feel safe in Germany anymore. In recent months, prominent community leaders in Germany have urged Jews to avoid wearing religious symbols in public and to avid “districts with strong Muslim populations.”
According to the spokesperson of the Jewish community in Hamburg, Daniel Killy, the current lawlessness in Germany has led to a dangerous situation for the Jews.
“No, we are no longer safe here,” Killy was quoted be the Jerusalem Post. He said the disintegration of state power, excesses of the extreme right-wing, the loss of political credibility, and “the terrible fear of naming Islamism as such” have contributed to an insecure environment for Jews. Hamburg’s Jewish community has nearly 2,500 members.
Noted commentator and Jerusalem Post’s European correspondent Benjamin Weinthal writes:
Germany has absorbed over one million refugees from mainly Muslim-majority countries.German Jewish leaders have warned about rising anti-Semitism because the refugees are socialized in countries that are steeped in hatred of Jews and Israel.The detailed taggeschau.de [public funded broadcaster] report, which was authored by Patrick Gensing, an expert in extremist ideologies, wrote that anti-Semitic sentiments have diverse manifestations in Germany. He cited studies that point to “historical defensive guilt [about the Holocaust], obsessive criticism of Israel, National Socialist racism, Muslim anti-Semitism [and] Christian anti-Semitism.”Gensing wrote about a “wave of hatred” at the “hate-filled demonstrations against the Gaza War” in 2014. An Israeli couple were attacked during that period. Also, three Palestinians attempted to torch a Wuppertal city synagogue – one that had previously been burned by Germans in 1938. A local court sentenced the Palestinians to probation and stated that the act of arson was not anti-Semitic because the men sought to draw attention to the Gaza war.
According to Jerusalem Post, last year about 200 German Jews — made Aliya — moved to Israel, a high number considering that majority of the Jewish population in Germany is older in age.
Almost all Jewish institutions in Germany get round the clock police protection or have to employ private security guards. The tiny Jewish community in Germany, always a prime target of Neo-Nazi violence, is now increasingly under attack from Islamists. A prominent Rabbi in Frankfurt told German broadcaster DW that “these days he is less fearful of rightwing extremists and more of Islamic fundamentalists.”
European history shows that Jews are the proverbial canary in the continental coal mine. Like the dying canary warned the minors of a toxic leak, the prosecution of the Jews has always been an ominous indicator of an impending disaster.
As antisemitism in Germany again touches historic heights, it is time for Germans as a people to unequivocally demonstrate that they have learned the lesson of history. They may chose to ignore this screeching call of history at their own peril.
Video: Journalist and author Tuvia Tenenbom talks to i24News about the present-day Antisemetism in Germany, July 2014
[Featured image courtesy Zentralrat der Juden, YouTube screens]
[Writer is an Indian journalist based near Cologne, Germany]
CLICK HERE FOR FULL VERSION OF THIS STORY