The days of the Second World War, a horrible event for much of the world, and in particular, the Jews are long gone. It’s been over seven decades since the bloodiest war in the modern history of man ended. Yet, what hasn’t ended and continues, unbound to this very day, is the problem of Antisemitism in Germany. Is Antisemitism in Germany still on the rise?
The above may sound like some needless controversy creating un-rapturous theme redolent of diatribe-evoking Israel-enticing statement. Though, in reality, it’s anything like that.
Three things, among the many, just haven’t changed in post-war Germany, in this part of the 21st century. Boundless innovation in the automobile sphere being the first, so much so that Tesla’s main gateway to Europe, the new Gigafactory has found its place into Brandenburg.
Second, a more climate pro political stand and antinuclear protests with regards to the rise of the Greens, who could well define the next chapter in the life of the German politics.
And finally, Anti-Semetisim in Germany, as truthfully indicated by the rise of incidents like the most recent one in Cologne, that marks the fact that rabid dislike of the Jews still pretty much forms part of the German society, even as the liberal, informed, conscientious Germans may be as averse to it as is one from accepting a COVID positive patient in one’s residence.
So the key question is- what really happened that shook the firmament of the modern Cologne society so much so that it’s reopened wounds from a dark Nazi past underlined by massive ill-treatment of the Jews?
Well, the following is what DW.com had to report on an incident that may not only have scarred the Jewish population of Germany but led to fresh differences between different sections of the German society:
An 18-year-old Jewish man in the western German city of Cologne was hospitalized over the weekend after suffering severe injuries in what appears to have been an antisemitic attack.
“Clearly antisemitism in Germany has once again raised its ugly head,” North Rhine-Westphalia’s (NRW) State Antisemitism Commissioner Sabine Leutheusser-Schnarrenberger told reporters on Monday as she addressed the attack.
The man was sitting in a city park with a friend late Friday night when he was verbally abused by a group of teens for wearing the traditional Jewish yarmulke, or kippah, head covering.
The verbal attacks quickly escalated into a physical attack as the group of 10 perpetrators punched and kicked the victim before stealing his yarmulke.”
The very fact that youths no older than 18 and 19 were behind the mauling of the Jewish teenage boy is both heartbreaking and telling to a good extent that extending a cold shoulder to Jews is still very much occurring in Germany.
This is both unpleasant and improper. How? Well, that’s especially given that from the onset of 2015, given her party’s pro Refugee stance, and up until the present date, the Angela Merkel-land has been far more tolerant and accepting of countless asylum seekers who rush to Germany to begin a second wind in life, whilst at the same time, there exist Jews who are marginalised, who’ve been living in the country for centuries together!
When will things change in a democratic set up built on the principles of tolerance and acceptance?