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Stress in the schoolyard: where does the hatred of Jews come from?
Photo: Conny Klein / ZDF
Historical commemorative days like November 9th always bring an extra dose of stress to the program makers of public television: They want to somehow meet the general educational mandate, but still entertain the viewers and not lose too quickly to the competition of private broadcasters and streaming services, which is freed from such obligations.
Not an easy task, of course.
For November 9th, the day on which the synagogues burned in Germany 82 years ago and thousands of Jews were put in concentration camps, the ZDF has put a film in its program that should clearly meet all of these requirements: "Das Unwort", a TV production with the curious generic name "Drama-Comedy" and a star line-up that should normally guarantee good ratings.
The always present Iris Berben, for example, is there, as is ex- "Tatort" commissioner Devid Striesow.
Director and book author Leo Khasin tells a story that is based on real models: At a Berlin high school, the Jewish student Max (Samuel Benito) is repeatedly called "Jew" - which he is, but what is meant as abuse.
The bullying finally takes on such violent forms that Max breaks the nasal bone of one of the tormentors and bites off the earlobe of another during a brawl.
A school conference is held to clarify the process.
It quickly becomes apparent that the teachers were not only unable to cope with the long-smoldering conflict, but also swept it under the carpet in order not to damage the school's reputation.
They even painstakingly avoid the word "Jew".
Striesow in the role of the career-hungry director is responsible for the comedic note at the conference, while Iris Berben, the super-annoyed school councilor, is responsible for the big drama.
So far so good.
Unfortunately, however, the story is laid out in such a way that it largely runs counter to the intentions of the program managers.
According to the ZDF press release, this film aims to address "the resurgent anti-Semitism".
In fact, however, director Khasin only relocates the Middle East conflict to the German classroom.
The bad boys who make life difficult for poor Max are exclusively Muslims - Palestinians and Iranians in particular.
The Christian Germans just watch helplessly at the hatred of Jews, the pupils as well as the educational staff.
As is well known, on November 9, 1938, things went a little differently.
Above all, anti-Semitism is homemade
Nobody will deny that there is imported anti-Semitism in Germany today.
It is also documented that there were attacks by Muslim teenagers on Jewish classmates in Berlin schools.
Incidentally, the Nazis did a lot to spread this variant of racism in the Arab world.
But the "rising anti-Semitism" that the ZDF people want to denounce is more likely to be a homemade problem.
Whether it is the dull hatred of Jews by neo-Nazis and right-wing populists or the notorious Israel bashing of the German left: Germans do not need any support from the Muslim world for their anti-Semitism, they can do it frighteningly well even without outside help.
The problem with "Das Unwort" is not the hybrid format of drama and comedy.
Of course, the great questions of humanity can also be told in an entertaining and funny way, if the story is plausible and stringent in itself.
But in this film, anti-Semitism is always only the other's problem, the Germans themselves have once again freed themselves of all responsibility.
After the failure of the school conference - it ends in a veritable brawl, including a cake fight - the story then takes an extremely unlikely turn: out of the blue there is a Jewish-Arab reconciliation between the father of the victim and the father of the main culprit.
Apparently they wanted a happy ending for the film at all costs.
If you just talk to each other nicely, so the naive message of the story goes, even the Middle East conflict can be resolved, at least in the corridors of a Berlin school office.
"Das Unwort",
8:15 pm, ZDF, followed by the documentary
"Hey, I'm Jude! Young, Jewish, German" at 9:40 pm
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