(Jewish Group) Jewish perspectives on antisemitism in Germany
Antisemitism remains a reality in Germany. A new report used data from 2017-2020 to ask: How do Jewish people perceive antisemitism? And do their views contrast from those of the non-Jewish population?Participants in a new study describe being turned down for apartments because the landlords did not want to rent to Jews; being embroiled in conversations defending Israel and even hearing from the dentist that Jews "use the Holocaust for political purposes."
Incidents such as these have been documented in a new report on Jewish perspectives on antisemitism in Germany gathered from 2017 to 2020 and published by the Federal Association of Departments for Research and Information on Antisemitism (RIAS). The information was collected during more than 150 interviews with Jewish people. About 150,000 Jewish people live in Germany today.
"What comes through is the everydayness of it, that is, that Jewish people are really confronted with antisemitism in everyday situations, even in very mundane situations that cannot be avoided," one of the study's authors, Daniel Poensgen, said, adding: "Whenever the majority population talks about it, I feel as if they often view antisemitism as a problem on the political fringes, or something which happens in the political sphere, for example at protests, which people are able to avoid. But the accounts we received tell an entirely different story."
Different perceptions of antisemitism
"Divergence of perspectives," was how the RIAS survey describes the gap between the non-Jewish majority and the Jewish minority affected by antisemitism. The perception of what antisemitism is and how it is expressed can vary greatly, the survey concluded. One example is the way the media spoke of the terrorist attack on a synagogue in Halle in 2019 as a "wake-up call." To those affected, however, it was the realization of something they had been anticipating for years.
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