Everyday Anti-Semitism

Today's New York Times has a front-page article on the re-emergence of anti-Semitism in Europe (Europe's Anti-Semitism Comes Out of the Shadows).  Of course the article mentions the high=profile violent incidents, like the murder of four visitors to a Jewish museum in Brussels and the firebombing of a synagogue in Wuppertal.  But much more sinister is the casual acceptance of anti-Semitism across broad swaths of European society:

"But there is also concern about what some see as an insidious “softer” anti-Jewish bias, which they fear is creeping into the European mainstream and undermining the postwar consensus to root out anti-Semitism. Now the question is whether a subtle societal shift is occurring that has made anti-Jewish remarks or behavior more acceptable.

“The fear is that now things are blatantly being said openly, and no one is batting an eyelid,” said Jessica Frommer, 36, a secular Jew who works for a nonprofit organization in Brussels. “Modern Europe is based on stopping what happened in the Second World War. And now 70 years later, people standing near the European Parliament are shouting, ‘Death to Jews!’ ”

The Tageszeitung reports that a woman working in the Israeli embassy in Berlin has to spend the weekend deleting hate messages that pour onto the embassy's Facebook page and YouTube site. Typical comments are "Hamas should use Zyklon B","The world would be so much better without Jews."  "Hitler, where are youuuu?"  "You filthy Jews need to be gassed!."

Ein weiterer Typus der Hassschreiben: Die Empfänger werden nicht nur mit Nazis gleichgesetzt, ihnen wird zudem das gleiche Schicksal wie den Naziopfern angedroht. Ein Jochen lässt wissen: „Bis jetzt fand ich das nie gut was die Nazis gemacht haben aber jetzt glaube ich sie haben noch zu viele von Euch am Leben gelassen! Ich habe Hoffnung, dass der Iran euch irgendwann auslöscht!“

(Another category of hate mail:  the recipients are not simply compared to Nazis, they are threaten to share the same fate as the victims of Nazi violence.  A commenter named "Jochen" writes: "Up to now I didn't like what the Nazis had done, but now I see that they left too many of you alive! I just hope that Iran can wipe you all out some day!")

But what really discourages me is this report coming from a "West German trade school." Apparently teenagers regularly use the term "Dirty Jew" as a casual insult among themselves.

"Jude“ ist ein gebräuchliches Schimpfwort an der Berufsschule in Westdeutschland. Ein 19-Jähriger erklärt mir, Juden seien Wucherer. Sie trieben Menschen in den Ruin.

Ich staune, wie offen im Unterricht Bemerkungen fallen wie „Schufa, alles Juden“. Als einmal ein Schüler ruft: „Aldi gehört den Juden“, reagiert der Lehrer: „Dazu könnte ich jetzt etwas sagen. Aber?“ Er lässt es.

("Jew" is a customary insult in the West German trade school   19 year-old explains that Jews are usuers and extortionists, they drive people to ruin. I'm astonished by how often in class I hear remarks like "Shufa - they're all Jews". ("Schufa is the German credit bureau).  When a student shouts out "the Jews control Aldi"  the teacher responds "I could say something. But?"  He lets it go.")

When the class discusses the history of National Socialism in Germany, a student comes up with a response that is all too common:

Ein Schüler verteidigt die Wehrmacht gegen den Vorwurf, sie habe einen verbrecherischen Krieg geführt. Sein Großvater habe ihm erzählt, wie es wirklich war. In dieser familiären Geschichte sind offenbar die Deutschen die Leidtragenden. Und Juden keine richtigen Deutschen.

(A student defends the Wehrmacht against the accusation that they waged a criminal war. His grandfather told him what really happened. For this family's history the Germans were the ones that suffered in the war. Besides, the Jews weren't real Germans.)

“Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.” -George Santayana (1904)

 

Comments

[Mehrgedanken.wordpress.com]

I guess that means Henryk Broder was more right than I gave him credit for.

[Zyme]

Generally speaking I don't really appreciate any kind of religion.

Nonetheless, would Jewish organisations not use German history as a tool to influence German politics today, I wouldn't actually mind them!

A great example was the rally conducted in Berlin on September 14th: 4.000 people including high ranking members of Jewish society came to demonstrate against antisemitism in Germany.
4.000 - keep that number in mind when reading who attended with such a not exactly massive crowd: Chancellor Merkel, President Gauck, co-governing SPD head Gabriel and many, many more.

They must probably be thinking "oh no, not another mandatory instance screwing up my calender, where we have to show up and endlessly repeat how in love we are with Jewish life in Germany"...

Were I a Jew, I would get a sinister feeling from hearing such compelled "committments", as it can't go on like this forever.

[erphschwester]

nicht, dass ich irgend etwas beschönigen wollte ...

jedoch kenne ich niemanden, der "jude" als schimpfwort benutzt. dass allerhand leute mit der israelischen politik, gerade in letzter zeit, nicht einverstanden sind, ist eine andere sache. das muss man dann auch sagen dürfen. da kommt es sehr auf den ton an.

und sowieso kann man für alles negativ-bespiele finden. letzthin fiel mir in einigen amerikanischen serien auf, dass anscheinend ganze bevölkerungsschichten in den usa ebenfalls auf die juden schimpfen und da "verluste" nicht so schlimm finden. offenbar gibt es solche idioten ja überall auf der welt, oder?

[David]

@Zyme, anti-Semitism has nothing to do with religion, since "Jew" denotes ethnicity. Most Jews are secular and not religious. The Nazis recognized this and murdered hundreds of thousands of Jews who had converted to Christianity.

Did it occur to you the political leaders don't view condemning anti-Semitism as an "unpleasant chore" but rather as a sacred duty in view of Germany's history?

[Zyme]

I am sure they see it as much a sacred duty as the rest of the populace, which has the right to abstain from such events and is hence criticized by the Jewish counsil ;-)

1 out of 20 might consider this no nuissance. Hardly any more.

[David]

"offenbar gibt es solche idioten ja überall auf der welt, oder?"

Das ist wahr. Nur hat der Antisemitismus in Deutschland eine ganz andere Bedeutung. Schliesslich hat Amerika Millionen von Juden Zuflucht und Asyl gegeben.