Panel discussion on hatred of Jews: German constitutional state not sufficiently defensive against anti-Semitism – Berlin
The German constitutional state is still not sufficiently defensive against anti-Semitism. That’s what the Baden-Württemberg anti-Semitism commissioner Michael Blume said on Thursday at a panel discussion of the Potsdam “FC Flick Foundation”, which took place in the Brandenburg state representation in Berlin.
“We have the problem that public prosecutors across Germany evaluate things differently.” Use of the yellow Star of David by opponents of vaccination. “It is very clear to me that the Jewish star is a mockery of the victims of vaccination opponents and puts today’s democracy on an equal footing with the Nazi regime,” said Blume. “But there are still public prosecutors who see it differently.”
In the field of criminal prosecution, excuses are still being sought for the perpetrators and the accused. “But that’s the wrong signal for conspiracy believers,” said Blume. Initial punishment would prevent further radicalization.
But why did the event take place on Thursday evening under the heading “How dangerous is anti-Semitism for our democracy?” After all, Russia had invaded Ukraine on the same day – wasn’t there anything more important? “We’re doing the event because it’s the way it is,” said the evening’s moderator, Tagesspiegel editor Stephan-Andreas Casdorff. “Because Putin is pursuing aggressive national expansionism.” It is important to show that such ideas can come up again and again: the topic is obviously “cannot be gotten out of the world.”
Anti-Semitism is on the rise again
The head of the Brandenburg State Representation, State Secretary Jutta Jahns-Böhm, then pointed out that anti-Semitism still needs to be clarified in many areas of society. “Unfortunately, anti-Semitism is on the rise again,” said Jahns-Böhm. In Brandenburg there were a total of 147 anti-Semitic crimes in 2020. The country is currently planning an amendment to its constitution that would make the fight against anti-Semitism a state goal in the state constitution. The change is expected to be decided by the state parliament in Potsdam at the end of March.
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“We need a legal basis,” said the director of the Potsdam Abraham Geiger College, Rabbi Walter Homolka. The constitution would provide a framework to permanently address the problem of anti-Semitism.
The managing director of the “FC Flick Foundation”, Susanne Krause-Hinrichs, pointed out that there was a great deal of ignorance about the culture and history of Israel among schoolchildren in Germany.
The mediation of the Holocaust had apparently been regarded as “not that important” in the past few decades. “‘You Jew’ has again become the most popular swear word in schools,” said Krause-Hinrichs. The application also had to be fought against anti-Semitism more and more intensively, because, as the Bavarian anti-Semitism commissioner Ludwig Spaenle said: “Whoever gives up the fight against Jew hatred gives up on himself.”