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Angela Merkel awarded the Theodor Herzl Prize

2019-10-28T22:46:43.235Z


The festival should demonstrate cohesion: Angela Merkel has received the Theodor Herzl Prize of the Jewish World Congress. Its President Ronald Lauder asks urgent questions to the Germans.



It is close, even though the Hubert Burda Hall in the community center of the Jewish Community of Munich already has the dimensions of a sports hall. Chairs are added until shortly before the start of the event, it is hardly possible to get through. The work of the service staff has more to do with choreography and acrobatics than gastronomy. Charlotte Knobloch, President of the Munich Jewish Community, thinks that's good: "I just wanted a lot of people to come."

Tonight, Angela Merkel will be awarded the Theodor Herzl Prize of the World Jewish Congress, one of the highest honors of the Jewish world. And so have all the others who represent the state and society in Munich: the Bavarian Prime Minister Markus Söder, the Lord Mayor Dieter Reiter and various ministers and deputies. The head of BMW is there, the actress Maria Furtwängler and the Generalbundeanwalt. As if the whole republic wanted to move to the side of the Jewish community. The space in front of the building shines black and empty, the security measures are impressive.

Inside it is light and warm. The organizer of the evening Maram Stern reveals that Charlotte Knobloch almost became his mother-in-law, but there was no wedding. When the Chancellor enters the hall, they all stand up as if they were the Queen. Merkel amuses it and looks forward to it too. Prime Minister Söder holds a greeting, promises action rather than words in the fight against anti-Semitism. He talks about many topics, including fake news and warns: "The path of untruth always leads to nirvana" - but probably does not mean the highest state of Buddhist spirituality.

Then Ronald Lauder, President of the World Jewish Congress, begins his eulogy. He finds warm words about Germany, cultural history, the achievements of the post-war period and, of course, about the Chancellor, because he would like to present her with a prize. But he also has to say something. There is not only the assassination of Halle, there is also the election evening in Thuringia. There are the pictures from football stadiums, where arms are raised for the Hitler salute, the case of the Messerangreifers in the Berlin synagogue, which the police let run again. And the question of where the police were when the gunman was at the door of the synagogue in Halle.

Urgent Questions: What happens to the people who make the Hitler salute?

And all of this has even deeper, social and cultural bases: Lauder leads a survey, after which too many Germans still believe too much nonsense about Jews. It is not an easy speech. Formally, it is the eulogy to the Herzlpreis for the Chancellor. Already in 2008, she recognized the security of Israel as the state rationale of the Federal Republic in the Knesset. She is a friend of the Jewish cause, the topic is particularly close to her heart.

But Lauder can not only praise this evening. The situation is too serious for that. His speech was already written when the Höcke-AfD in Thuringia was successful. So he rewrote everything overnight.

After the event, the Chancellor was again adopted with standing applause, we meet Ronald Lauder for a short conversation. His eyes water - an allergic reaction to the flower decoration. It would also fit his assessment of the situation. "The situation in Germany is very serious, you are a constitutional state - but are there laws against a neo-Nazi party? What happens to the people who make the Hitler salute? What does that say about Germany?" And then he comes to this eternally long moment of deadly loneliness that the Jewish community had to endure: "Halle is not that big." Why did the police take so long to get to the synagogue? "

The fear comes again, the anger too

His questions are aimed precisely at this gap, the scope that the state and society leave to the anti-Semites. The excuses, the looking away, the comfortable indulgence. Again and again. Lauder also addresses the eternal prejudices that even among the elites of the country, old ideas of the ominous power of the Jews hold.

You have to go to the schools, long before high school. One must train the police and the teachers, not always just talk. He develops a whole catalog of measures that should immediately be applied against rampant anti-Semitism. He is much more impatient than he appeared on stage. Concern is more burning than it could be in the context of such a feast - a feast on which cohesion is presented, where happiness and courage arise. But then comes the fear again, the anger too.

And organizer Maram Stern, finds a final word, half summon half spell: "It must not happen here again."

Source: spiegel

All news articles on 2019-10-28

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