Germany

This morning we woke up to the news of another synagogue attacked by fire, this time in the German city of Giessen. Security footage clearly shows a man who did not even bother to cover his face setting fire near a synagogue window while giving the Nazi Hitler salute. There is no doubt that this was an antisemitic attack, following the same pattern of synagogue attacks we have seen over the past two years since October 7.

Only yesterday, police in the United States identified the suspect who set fire to the only synagogue in Jackson, Mississippi, over the weekend. In the last two years, 21 synagogues have been set on fire, and an alarming number of synagogues have been targeted with hatred, vandalized with swastikas and antisemitic messages, used to harass worshippers, or turned into focal points for antisemitic protests. Tragically, people have also been murdered while praying.

We are following this growing pattern with deep concern. In many parts of Europe, synagogues must be heavily guarded, with many requiring constant police presence and security measures that resemble airport security rather than places of worship just so Jews can pray.

Against this reality, we are deeply concerned about the possibility that burning synagogues is becoming a trend, driven by both left wing and right wing antisemites. It is now clear that the current security measures are not enough to stop the out of control hatred directed at the Jewish people. We are calling on western leaders to increase the security measures and make sure all Jewish institutions are safe.

We are calling on EU leaders to treat antisemitism as an emergency, as we have been calling for many months.

In response to the attack against the synagogue, Mr. Lawrence de Donges – Amiss – Amiss, EJA member and Vice-Chairman of the Jewish Community of Giessen, has stated; “this was never a question of if, but when. For those of us who are visibly Jewish and who confront antisemitism every single day, life has changed radically over the past years.
We are grateful to have a dedicated Chief of Police who provides every possible means of support. However, this cannot end there. The responsible ministry must urgently rethink and strengthen personal security measures for Jewish representatives and communities. The current reality demands immediate and decisive action.”

EJA’s advisor and coordinator for Germany, Oliver Bradley, accepted an invitation by the State Association of Jewish Communities in Brandenburg (Landesverband der Jüdischen Gemeinden Land Brandenburg) as guest speaker for the opening ceremony of the state of Brandenburg’s “Education and Action Weeks Against Anti-Semitism”, yesterday.

During the course of the evening, the Association also included Oliver Bradley among its honorees for “…resolute committente to cohesion and respectful coexistence in our society…”
….
At the Brandenburg state capitol building (Landtag Brandenburg), in Potsdam.

Press release: Joseph Goebbels villa & hate speech -EJA responds to Berlin government plan to sell or demolish Goebbels villa.

European Jewish Association (EJA) makes urgent appeal to Berlin’s Finance Senator (minister): “Turn Goebbels Villa into a World Center for Combatting Hate Propaganda!”

For immediate release

The European Jewish Association (EJA) makes urgent appeal to Berlin’s Finance Senator (minister) who recently announced that the Berlin government could no longer afford the costs of maintaining an abandoned villa once belonging to Nazi propaganda minister Joseph Goebbels.

In an official letter to Berlin’s Finance Senator (minister), Stefan Evers, EJA chairman Rabbi Menachem Margolin responded to the city of Berlin’s intention to sell or demolish a villa once belonging Joseph Goebbels, by expressing EJA’s willingness to explore solutions regarding the preservation of the estate.

Addressing Berlin’s finance minister, Rabbi Margolin noted:

“Turning the villa that once belonged to one of the worst engineers of genocidal propaganda in human history into a center for political psychology, communication, and combating hate speech would be an important moral victory.

“EJA is ready to examine the possibility of promoting the idea of such a center and realizing it.

“91 years since the Nazis came to power, the free world is once again facing waves of lethal propaganda deliberately engineered to create a virtual reality that nurtures hate and destructive violence.

“It is precisely these days that Dr. Goebbels’ villa should not be demolished. Rather, it should stand as both an eternal reminder of the perilous dangers posed by hate speech as well as an important center for identifying hate trends that are on the rise at an alarming exponential rate in the entire western world, including Germany.”

“The European Jewish Association is interested in exploring the possibility of turning the estate of one of the worst engineers of genocidal propaganda in human history into a center for the study of political psychology, communication and the fight against hate speech.

“We are interested in implementing the matter together with the Berlin government”.

In his letter to Senator Stefan Evers, Rabbi Margolin concludes:

“Although this week marks exactly 79 years since Goebbels poisoned his six children and committed suicide in the infamous Hitler bunker, a reminder of an equally fascist and murderous leadership currently lurking underground in Gaza, we are again living in chilling times where people are seeking to destroy Jews – but now no longer only through words.

“Let us transform the villa, from where hate speech and genocidal thought was once spread, to place for spreading good. Doing so would be an important moral victory.”

For more details / request to interview Rabbi Margolin,
please contact your EIPA/EJA media advisor – Yossi Lempkowicz, Tovi Borins, Oliver Bradley, David Khalfa, or Juan Caldes

or Tal Rabina of the Israel team:
+972 50-5331027

Hundreds residents of the German city of Oldenburg marched on Sunday to express their solidarity with the Jewish community following an arson attack at the local synagogue on Friday.An unknown perpetrator hurled a Molotov cocktail against the door of the synagogue in this city of northern Germany. No one was injured in the attack as caretakers from a neighboring cultural center were quickly able to extinguish the fire, which damaged the door to the place of worship.Claire Schaub-Moore, chairwoman of the Jewish community in Oldenburg thanked the residents for their support. “We are deeply impressed by this solidarity. We feel this strength and it is much greater than what happened on our doorstep, on the doorstep of the synagogue,” she said.Speaking to the crowd, the city’s Mayor Jürgen Krogman called thge attack against the synagogue “nothing other than attempted murder, terror.”Hundreds marched rched on Sunday to express their solidarity with the Jewish community fThe leader of Lower-Saxony’s parliament, Hanna Naber, an Oldenburg resident herself, told demonstrators, “We are renewing the promise with which the German Federal Republic was founded: Never again!.”In a post on X German Interior Minister Nancy Faeser called the act a “disgusting, inhumane attack on Oldenburg’s Jewish men and women.”Josef Schuster, president of the Central Council of Jews in Germany,said: “We will not be intimidated. Jewish life belongs to our country, to Germany. Those who refuse to accept that fact must bear all legal consequences for their actions.”

The Independent: https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/olaf-scholz-ap-germans-jews-auschwitz-b2485902.html

Chancellor Olaf Scholz on Saturday called on all citizens to defend Germany’s democracy and fight antisemitism as the country marked the 79th anniversary of the liberation of the Nazi death camp Auschwitz-Birkenau during World War II.

Since 1996, Germany has also marked January 27 as a day to remember the horrors of the Holocaust.

“’Never again’ is every day,” Scholz said in his weekly video podcast. “January 27 calls out to us: Stay visible! Stay audible! Against antisemitism, against racism, against misanthropy — and for our democracy.”

On that day in 1945, Soviet Red Army troops liberated some 7,000 prisoners at Auschwitz in German-occupied Poland. The Nazis murdered more than a million people in Auschwitz, most of them Jews.

In the days before the liberation, the Germans had evacuated tens of thousands of other inmates on foot in what is now called the Death March, because many inmates died of exhaustion and cold in the sub-freezing temperatures.

Altogether, they killed six million European Jews during the Holocaust.

On Saturday, as people in Germany put down flowers and lit candles at memorials for the victims of the Nazi terror, the German chancellor said that his country would continue to carry the responsibility for this “crime against humanity.”

He stressed that the fight against any kind of antisemitism and for democracy is not something that can be done by the government only, but needs the support of all Germans.

“Never again” demands the vigilance of everyone,” Scholz said. “Our democracy is not God-given. It is man-made.”

“It is strong when we support it,’ he added. ”And it needs us when it is under attack.”

Scholz referred specifically to the threat posed by the rise of far-right populists in Germany, elsewhere across Europe and worldwide “who are stirring up fears and sowing hatred.”

At the same time, the chancellor praised the millions of Germans who have joined pro-democracy protests in recent weeks.

“Our country is on its feet right now. Millions of citizens are taking to the streets: For democracy, for respect and humanity,” he said, adding that it was their solidarity “that makes our democracy strong. Showing it confidently in public — as is happening now — is a good thing.”

A report that right-wing extremists recently met to discuss the deportation of millions of immigrants, including some with German citizenship triggered massive demonstrations across the country. Some members of the far-right Alternative for Germany party, or AfD, were present at the meeting.

Growing anxiety over the AfD’s rising support among the German electorate also catalyzed pro-democracy protesters.

The AfD was founded as a eurosceptic party in 2013 and first entered the German Bundestag in 2017. Polling now puts it in second place nationally with around 23%, far above the 10.3% it won during the last federal election in 2021.

The party enjoys major support and is leading in eastern Germany, including the states of Brandenburg, Saxony and Thuringia, slated to hold elections this fall.

One of the oldest German Holocaust survivors, 102-year-old Margot Friedlaender expressed concern about the the spike in antisemitic incidents in the country.

“I would never have thought that it would happen like this again, because that’s how it started back then,” she said on public Television ARD on Friday, referring to the rise of the far-right. Friedlaender said for those of endured the horrors of the Holocaust it is “particularly difficult to understand and very sad.”