EA sniper looks out of a van, boys with black kippot are playing next to it. The synagogue on Berlin’s Brunnenstrasse will be cordoned off this Thursday. A well-armed police officer looks through binoculars; armored cars stand in the side streets.
A police officer from an elite unit guards the memorial event in the Beth Zion synagogue in Berlin
Source: dpa
“We are not the problem, we live our Jewish lives,” says Pavlo Lyubarsky in the courtyard of the synagogue. “We are open and we will not allow ourselves to be intimidated.”
The past few weeks have been strenuous, very strenuous. Three weeks ago, Lyubarksy woke up to the news that his community, Kahal Adass Yisroel, had been pelted with two incendiary devices. Just a few days after Hamas terrorists carried out a massacre in Israel, torturing, mutilating and brutally murdering more than 1,400 people. To date, more than 240 people have been deported to Gaza.
This Thursday, community leader Lyubarsky stands in front of his synagogue and welcomes Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD). Almost the entire federal government is there, Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock, Economics Minister Robert Habeck (both Greens), Interior Minister Nancy Faeser (SPD). Federal President Frank-Walter Steinmeier, Bundestag President Bärbel Bas, Federal Council President Manuela Schwesig (both SPD), Bundestag Vice President Petra Pau (Left). Wolfgang Schäuble, Friedrich Merz (both CDU), SPD general secretary Kevin Kühnert, FDP parliamentary group leader Christian Dürr. Shoah survivor Margot Friedländer and relatives of the German hostages kidnapped by Hamas. Israel’s ambassador to Germany, Ron Prosor.
From left: Constitutional Judge Stephan Harbarth, Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD), Federal Council President Manuela Schwesig (SPD), Pavlo Lyubarsky, Bundestag President Bärbel Bas (SPD)
Source: Getty Images/Pool
Berlin’s Senator for Economic Affairs Franziska Giffey (SPD, r.) welcomes Margot Friedländer. On the left, Economics Minister Robert Habeck (Greens), in the middle, Green Party leader Ricarda Lang
Source: via REUTERS
They all want to remember November 9, 1938, when the anti-Semitic hatred of the National Socialists was unleashed in Kristallnacht. Synagogues were set on fire, Jews were beaten, deported to concentration camps and murdered. The only reason the synagogue on Brunnenstrasse didn’t burn at the time was because the Germans feared that the flames from the inner courtyard synagogue would spread to neighboring houses.
85 years later, Josef Schuster speaks here of the ongoing hatred of Jews. “More than 1000 murdered. Devastation and pillage. Families – brutally torn apart,” says the President of the Central Council of Jews in Germany. Schuster stands in front of the assembled federal political leaders in the very synagogue that was supposed to burn three weeks ago.
“I could talk here about November 9, 1938 – Kristallnacht. But I could also talk about the pogrom of our time,” said Schuster, about Hamas’ terror against Israel. “The descriptions are similar.” One’s thoughts are with the abducted people and their loved ones.
Anyone who wants to understand how Jews are doing in Germany these days should not forget the “historical pogrom experiences in Jewish thought”. The images of Stars of David daubed on houses with Jewish residents in Berlin, of the barbarism of Hamas and of Arab demonstrators celebrating these very crimes on German streets would awaken “deep trauma, fears and insecurities”. “Those who call for a day of wrath against Jews are not just concerned with Israel.”
Schuster recalls hate propaganda on TikTok, the hunt for Jews on one Airport in Dagestan. Is this also possible in Germany? “Five weeks ago I would have told you that I couldn’t imagine this. Today I’m not so sure about that anymore.” An “unholy alliance” of anti-Semites has formed, from Islamists to right-wing extremists to leftists and supporters of the “Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions” (BDS) campaign.
The biggest difference from 1938 was the protection of the synagogues by German authorities and the police, says Schuster. This protection is important, but no “protective shields” are wanted, said the Central Council President. “We want to live freely in Germany, in our country.” He no longer recognizes this country.
“We do not tolerate anti-Semitism”
Anti-Semitism is poisoning society, says the Chancellor. “It’s a shame, I’m deeply outraged and ashamed,” said Scholz about the anti-Semitic threat these days. “We do not tolerate anti-Semitism, anywhere.”
The Chancellor on the way to the lectern
Source: via REUTERS
The Federal Republic is based on a promise that must be kept. “The promise: ‘Never again.'” The physical protection of Jewish institutions is now central, a task for the state as well as for the population. Because that didn’t happen under National Socialism. “Apart from a few courageous women and men, the Germans remained silent.”
The police and judiciary would now have to enforce the applicable law. “No origin, no political opinion, no cultural background, no supposedly post-colonial view of history can serve as a justification for celebrating the murder, the cruel slaughter of innocents.” Anyone who does this will be prosecuted. But anti-Semitism also stands in the way of naturalization, and anti-Semitic agitation could lead to the revocation of the residence permit, said Scholz.
“’Never again’, of course, means friendship and solidarity with Israel,” emphasizes the Chancellor. October 7th was a turning point; Israel had the right to defend itself against terror. “Our sympathy goes out to everyone who has lost friends and family members.” One also thinks of the relatives of the hostages, some of whom Scholz was able to speak to during his solidarity visit to Israel. “Your heartbreaking worry and pain will not let me go.” The federal government will do everything it can to bring the hostages home.
Alma Sadé wants to rely on it. “We are experiencing a Shoah in Israel and the hostages in Gaza every day,” says the Israeli musician, who lives in Berlin. Her husband comes from the attacked Kibbutz Be’eri, and her nephew Amit Shani was kidnapped to Gaza.
The family believes he lived to see his 16th birthday in the hands of terrorists. His family doesn’t know how he is doing. “We need help to bring our loved ones back,” says Sadé in the courtyard in front of the synagogue.
Alma Sadé, soprano in Berlin and aunt of Amit Shani, a teenager kidnapped by Hamas terrorists
Source: WELT/Kevin Culina
“Amit is innocent. He always believed in peace.” When Shani’s mother and sister last saw him, he was riveted. “I want to see him home again,” says his aunt. “No matter who you are, whether Muslim or Jewish, there must never be hate again. Everyone wants freedom.”
Community leader Lyubarsky wants to defy terror. But more security precautions are needed; we are talking to the Berlin Senate. “That costs money.” Fighting anti-Semitism is not the job of the Jews. “Politicians emphasize that money shouldn’t fail. We hope that’s true.”