Stopping Antisemitism Together

On 9 October 2019, a right-wing terrorist tried to storm the synagogue in Halle (Saale) with the intention of murdering the Jews celebrating Yom Kippur inside. Eighty years earlier, on 9 November 1938, more than 1,000 synagogues were set on fire in Germany during the November pogroms, including the one in downtown Halle. That synagogue, however, was not the same building targeted in the 2019 terror attack. The building on Humboldtstrasse has only served as a synagogue since 1948; before that, it was used as a Tahara House – a ceremonial room where bodies are cleansed before burial.  

For some, the Halle attack served as a wake-up call, as if antisemitism had not existed before in Germany, or was at least less visible. The Jewish community, on the other hand, was shocked, but not surprised by the attack because antisemitic incidents, including deadly attacks, have occurred regularly in the country since 1945.  

The two dates, 9 November and 9 October, mark historic and present-day antisemitism in Germany. Exactly one month separates the two anniversaries. Since 2020, these dates have formed the temporal framework of the campaign “Education and Weeks of Action against Antisemitism,” the largest nationwide social coalition against antisemitism in Germany.  

For exactly 20 years, the Amadeu Antonio Foundation has been working with hundreds of partner organizations to coordinate events, concerts, exhibitions and readings that raise critical awareness of antisemitism. Since 2015, it has been supported by the Anne Frank Zentrum. The Weeks of Action campaign is funded by the Federal Commissioner for Jewish Life and the Fight Against Antisemitism and unites many small local initiatives, Jewish communities and large organizations. Together they send a clear message: We want to stop antisemitism in all its variants. Zero antisemitism – that is the goal. To achieve this, we need education, prevention and intervention, and an association that brings together committed and interested parties throughout Germany, because antisemitism can only be combatted by people who recognize its existence.  

When the Weeks of Action were founded in the early 2000s, the social situation was different. The “baseball bat years” were not yet history, but right-wing extremism and neo-Nazism in Germany had become a major topic of discussion. And yet, as Anetta Kahane, founder of the Amadeu Antonio Foundation, once told me, few people were talking about antisemitism. This is why the foundation began organizing events with small initiatives around 9 November. Their focus, however, was not limited to commemorating the November pogroms. They were also looking at the present because they understood that “to remember is to change” means that commemorating the past must not be decoupled from the fight against current antisemitism. This is where the Weeks of Action came in. We now have a committed civil society fighting antisemitism as well as a strong network of memorials and remembrance sites. Thanks to the reporting offices of the Research and Information Center on Antisemitism (RIAS), we also have quantitative data measuring hatred towards Jews in Germany. Sadly, the increased awareness, which has often been driven from below in a struggle against the non-Jewish majority society, has yet to lead to any discernible decline in antisemitism. Of course, we cannot know what the situation would be like today if we had not had this intervention. Criticizing and combating antisemitism unfortunately remains a task for all of society. 

The Weeks of Action against Antisemitism have risen to this challenge. Year after year, it has drawn attention to current problem areas and diverse forms of antisemitism; it does this through countless events and programs, as well as through a national poster campaign that aims to strike a nerve. As a result of the Corona pandemic, conspiracy myths reached alarming new heights in 2020: on social media channels, old antisemitic narratives, such as the ritual murder legend, have been updated to appeal to an audience of millions. QAnon supporters were soon seen marching on German streets, creating a worrisome situation for Jews. Such occurrences continue. In May 2020, just a few days after the first big lockdown, the Weeks of Action team, joined by many other dedicated individuals, organized a digital day of action to counter the rampant antisemitism. 

In 2021, the year marking 1700 years of Jewish life in Germany, the Weeks of Action campaign not only called out a loud shalom to its allies and steadfast supporters in the fight against antisemitism. It also addressed the phrasemongers and world champions in dealing with the past, who commemorate dead Jews but give little thought to the concerns and needs of the living. It focused equally on the so-called critics of Israel, who claim to have nothing against Jews but want Israel wiped off the map. In May 2021, anti-Israel mass demonstrations took place on streets in Germany – even passing by synagogues – and used the Israel-Gaza conflict to stir up hatred towards Israel and Jews. This only further demonstrates that the two phenomena cannot be separated.  

This is one of the reasons why the 2022 Weeks of Action campaign focused on Israel-related antisemitism, the most fervently contested issue in the fight against antisemitism, and one that is too often declared a contentious topic: What qualifies as legitimate criticism, and what goes too far? Hatred towards Israel is not only often antisemitic, it is a threat to Jews in Germany. 

Now, in 2023, it is time for the poster campaign to address a phenomenon that is often overlooked: the effect antisemitism has on peoples’ everyday lives. 

The fact that these different phenomena often occur at the same time is not the only reason they are a threat. While Corona deniers marched through Berlin, Stuttgart and Dresden with their “unvaccinated stars,” Israel haters demonstrated in Münster and Bonn in front of synagogues – just one and a half years after the attack in Halle! Yet, the way society handles antisemitism is also worrying; documenta fifteen in Kassel in the summer of 2022 was the most recent example that demonstrated the concerns and needs of Jews are often not heard. The situation was summed up bitterly by the British comedian David Baddiel: “Jews don’t count.”  

These developments are accompanied by increasingly heated debates on antisemitism aimed at assessing Israel-related antisemitism but also address the local culture of remembrance. In fact, the debates condense these issues. It is no coincidence that people who reject German memorial culture as too provincial and elitist are the same individuals who speak of “legitimate criticism of Israel” – when speaking of antisemitism would be more accurate. The attack on the unprecedented nature of the Shoah also at times appears aimed at delegitimizing the Jewish state. We urgently need to talk more about the thematic triangle formed by memorial culture, antisemitism and Israel.   

This is why, in 2023, the Weeks of Action against Antisemitism will take a second look at Germany’s diverse culture of remembrance. People often criticize this approach today, claiming it is unnecessary or controlled from above. With the Weeks of Action, we want to remind the public that our remembrance culture has been driven for decades from below, by volunteers and Jews. The motto is “Dare to Remember More”: for a critical remembrance culture from below that sheds light on the issues that are not discussed and reaches new target groups with innovative formats. 

For more information on the Education and Weeks of Action Against Antisemitism campaign and how you can get involved this fall, click here: www.aktionswochen-gegen-antisemitism