anti-Semitism
Schuster is disappointed by the lack of solidarity with Jews
The President of the Central Council, Josef Schuster, is disappointed by the lack of solidarity towards Jewish Germans. photo
© Klaus-Dietmar Gabbert/dpa
The Jews in Germany feel a lot of support from politicians – but less from the middle of society. And they are preparing for the fact that a minority will continue to agitate in the future.
The Central Council of Jews does not expect prejudice, hostility and hatred to subside in the coming years. “I don’t have the utopia of a life without anti-Semitism in Germany,” said the President of the Central Council Josef Schuster of the dpa in Berlin.
The former President of the Central Council, Ignatz Bubis, said resignedly at the end of his term of office that he had achieved nothing. “When I look back nine years ago, I actually see more anti-Semitism than I did back then, and I mean that without taking October 7th into account,” Schuster said. This refers to the sharp increase in anti-Semitic incidents in Germany following the attack on Israel by the terrorist organization Hamas.
Schuster is disappointed by the lack of solidarity
Schuster added: “However, I believe that it is not that more people have anti-Semitic ideas, but that anti-Semites are simply becoming louder. So I would predict that in five years we will have a similar opinion as before October 7th. Anti-Semitism in Germany will stay about the same.”
In recent decades, according to surveys, around a fifth of the population has always had anti-Jewish sentiment. “They won’t disappear, but fortunately the rate has never increased either,” said Schuster.
The President of the Central Council was disappointed by the lack of solidarity towards Jewish Germans. “What we hear from those in charge, across all parties, is clearly empathetic, in solidarity with Israel, without ifs and without buts,” he said. “What I miss is a correspondingly broad expression of opinions from society. I would have liked to see broader participation in pro-Israel demonstrations.” But he qualified: “There are significantly more encouraging, positive emails – in a quantity and abundance that I have never seen in this form before.”
Schuster made the comments in an interview on the sidelines of the Jewish Community Day, which ends this Sunday in Berlin. The meeting with around 1,400 participants had been running since Thursday with discussions, workshops and prayers. The Jewish communities in Germany number around 95,000 people.