The Limited Times

Now you can see non-English news...

Anti-Semitism in Germany: RIAS reporting offices record 2,700 cases in just one year

2022-06-28T11:38:30.703Z


Seven incidents a day, an anti-Jewish attack every sixth day: the network of reporting offices for anti-Semitism, RIAS, is alarmed by its latest report.


Enlarge image

Rias board member Steinitz: "The dark field is still large"

Photo: Carsten Koall / dpa

A network of anti-Semitism research and information centers (RIAS) has been registering anti-Jewish incidents since 2018.

In its current report, the organization paints a frightening picture of hatred of Jews in Germany – including insults, graffiti and attacks.

The Rias reporting offices recorded a total of 2,738 anti-Semitic incidents in 2021.

These included 63 assaults and six cases of extreme violence.

The annual report was presented by Rias board member Benjamin Steinitz in Berlin.

Important drivers from his point of view: the corona pandemic with its anti-Jewish conspiracy stories and the Middle East conflict with anti-Semitic criticism of Israel.

"The dark field of anti-Semitic incidents and crimes in Germany is still large," said Steinitz, according to a statement.

"Our report shows that Jews in Germany are still being attacked and hostile under the pretext of wanting to criticize Israel."

According to Rias, about half of all recorded incidents – 54 percent – ​​could not be assigned to a clear world view.

Where possible, right-wing extremists were the largest group at 17 percent.

A total of 964 perpetrators were registered.

Shot at the parish hall, "HH" scrawled on the doorbell

Those affected can contact eight reporting points of the Rias network.

In contrast to the criminal statistics, non-criminal anti-Semitic incidents are also recorded.

In 2020, Rias had registered 1,909 such cases - but with fewer registration offices, which is why the numbers are only comparable to a limited extent.

The fact that the number is now approaching the three-thousand mark is frightening, said the federal government's anti-Semitism commissioner, Felix Klein.

But "at the same time, each of the reported incidents is also a step towards reducing the number of unreported cases".

Among cases of "extreme violence," Rias counts the attack on a Jewish participant in a vigil for Israel in Hamburg and a shot at a Jewish community center in Berlin.

Statistically, according to Rias, there was an anti-Semitic attack every sixth day.

However, there were arithmetically more than seven anti-Semitic incidents per day.

For example, the door of a Jewish tenant in Berlin was pelted with eggs, according to the annual report.

"HH" was smeared on the doorbell of a Jewish shop - the abbreviation used by right-wing extremists for "Heil Hitler".

In a restaurant in Heidelberg, a man threatened a guest wearing a Star of David necklace with the words: "I'll kill you!

I am Hitler."

In 2021, a total of 964 individuals were directly affected by anti-Semitic incidents.

Anti-Semitism is part of everyday life – a background noise, as Marina Chernivsky from the Ofek counseling center for victims of anti-Semitic violence and discrimination called it.

But Rias also sees “opportunity structures” – occasions that repeatedly lead to anti-Semitic incidents.

"Almost a third of all anti-Semitic incidents known to Rias were related to the corona pandemic," it said.

These include graffiti, conspiracy stories about alleged Jewish masterminds or profiteers, but also relativization of the Shoah - for example, when opponents of vaccination wore yellow stars.

The second reason was the escalation of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict in May 2021. Overall, Rias attributed 26 percent of the recorded anti-Semitic incidents to Israel-related anti-Semitism, with 723 cases about twice as many as in 2020.

apr/dpa

Source: spiegel

All life articles on 2022-06-28

You may like

Trends 24h

Latest

© Communities 2019 - Privacy

The information on this site is from external sources that are not under our control.
The inclusion of any links does not necessarily imply a recommendation or endorse the views expressed within them.