Antisemitism in 21st-century Germany

Antisemitism is a growing problem in 21st-century Germany. In 1998, Ignatz Bubis , a leader of the German Jewish community, pointed to a "spreading intellectual nationalism" that made him fear a revival of German antisemitism. Others point to Germany's growing Muslim population, both the Turkish "guest workers" who began to arrive in the 1950s, and the large wave of migrants from the Muslim countries who arrive during the European migrant crisis that began in 2015. In 2002, the historian Julius Schoeps said that "resolutions by the German parliament to reject antisemitism are drivel of the worst kind" and "all those ineffective actions are presented to the world as a strong defense against the charge of antisemitism. The truth is: no one is really interested in these matters. No one really cares." A 2012 poll showed that 18% of the Turks in Germany think of Jews as inferior human beings. A similar study found that most of Germany's native born Muslim youth and children of immigrants have antisemitic views. In 2014, antisemitic activities in Germany prompted German Chancellor Angela Merkel to lead a rally in Berlin against anti-Semitism in Germany. In that same year, about 3,500 people rallied in front of the Frankfurt City Hall to protest against a wave of antisemitic incidents in Germany. A few hundred of the protesters were from the Kurdish-Israeli Friendship Association. According to the JTA , "Merkel expressed her support for the event in a letter." Perpetrators of antisemitistic verbal harassment and physical assault Characterisation of antisemitic attackers as reported by Jewish victims. An attacker may belong to more than 1 group. Source: Bielefeld University In May 2016, a new definition of antisemitism was agreed upon at the Berlin-based International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) Conference, stating that "holding Jews collectively responsible for actions of the state of Israel" is antisemitic. In police statistics more than 90 percent of incidents are counted as "right wing extremism". But government officials and Jewish leaders doubt that figure, because cases with unknown perpetrator and some kinds of attacks get automatically classified as "extreme right". A 2017 study on Jewish perspectives on antisemitism in Germany by Bielefeld University found that individuals and groups belonging to the extreme right and extreme left were equally represented as perpetrators of antisemitic harassment and assault, while the largest part of the attacks were committed by Muslim assailants. The study also found that 70% of the participants feared a rise in antisemitism due to immigration citing the antisemitic views of the refugees. A study among Jews, that was published by the European Union in 2018, has also listed muslims as the biggest perpetrator group of antisemitic incidents in Germany; 41% of attacks were committed by extremist muslims, 20% by far right and 16% by far left extremists, according to the study. In its 2017 summary, the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution (BfV) concluded that antisemitic rhetoric spread by Islamist organizations posed a significant challenge to a peaceful and tolerant society. The number of crimes against Jews and Jewish institutions continued to increase in 2018. In February 2019, crime data released by the government for 2018 and published in Der Tagesspiegel showed a yearly increase of 10%, with 1,646 crimes linked to a hatred of Jews in 2018, with the totals not finalised as yet. There was a 60% rise in physical attacks (62 violent incidents, vs 37 in 2017). Interview with Julius Schoeps (German) .¹