Corona demos: Anti-Semitism officer calls for more options against Holocaust relativization

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Armlet at a demo in Berlin in April: "Stereotypes and resentments openly shown"

Photo: Christophe Gateau / dpa

Hatred of Jews breaks out again and again on Corona demos, the horrors of the Holocaust are put into perspective.

In order to be able to take better action against this, the Federal Government's anti-Semitism commissioner, Felix Klein, demands more options.

At the rallies, "anti-Semitic stereotypes and resentments are often openly shown, as state measures are equated with the persecution of Jews during National Socialism," complained Klein in the newspapers of the Funke media group.

At the same time "crude conspiracy myths" were spread, which were often directed against Jews.

He was therefore "in talks with the municipalities so that a better way of dealing with this can be created, for example by imposing conditions, in order to take action against such hideous relativizations of the Holocaust such as the wearing of Jewish stars with the inscription 'unvaccinated' at such demonstrations," said Klein.

The incidents at the demos divided society and endangered democracy.

"We cannot and will not allow that."

Social explosiveness in parts of the protests

There had been widespread anti-Semitic incidents at Corona demos in Germany.

Among other things, Munich banned the wearing of the yellow star as a protest sign.

The anti-Semitism among self-proclaimed lateral thinkers also had an impact on the total number of anti-Semitically motivated crimes, which, according to initial data, reached a new high in 2020 with 2,275.

In his remarks, Klein also referred to a new study by the Federal Association of Research and Information Center for Antisemitism on behalf of the Berlin-based American Jewish Committee.

The researchers counted around 560 cases of anti-Semitism related to the corona pandemic between March 2020 and March 2021, as reported by "Welt am Sonntag".

Around 60 percent of the incidents occurred during demonstrations and gatherings.

Klein said: "The study presented once again shows what societal explosive power emanates in part from the protests against government measures to contain the pandemic."

apr / AFP