Incidents and Controversies
This list of antisemitic incidents in Europe provides readers with an overview of incidents and controversies all over Europe. It is definitely not complete and to some extent unbalanced, i.e., some countries are better represented than others. However, that does not mean antisemitism is more virulent in countries that are more present in this list; it is simply better monitored there. You can help improve monitoring by reporting incidents that have occurred in your country to the Forum.
Croatia, Zagreb: Antisemitic Literature in the Iranian Cultural Centre
November 19, 2008.
According to the president of the Jewish religious community Beth Israel, Ivo Goldstein the Iranian Cultural Centre in Zagreb is disseminating the antisemitic book “International Jew” by Henry Ford. The book is based on the notorious antisemitic pamphlet “The Protocols of the Elders of Zion”. Goldstein wants the Chief of the Prosecutor’s Office to launch an investigation of the centre.
Source: cjp.org, 11-19-2008
Erfurt, Germany: Jewish Cemetery Desecrated
November 17, 2008.
During the night of 16/17 November a Jewish Cemetery in Erfurt was vandalized. Unknown perpetrators drenched the memorial plaque at the graveyard gate and one of the cemetery walls in a blood-like liquid.
Sources: Bild.de, 11-17-2208; ddp, 11-17-2008
Goerlitz, Germany: Synagogue Besmirched
November 17, 2008.
During the night of 16/17 November unknown perpetrators vandalized the entrance door of the synagogue in Goerlitz with a swastika and anitsemitic slogans. The police are investigating the incident.
Sources: ddp, 11-18-2008; Sächsische Zeitung Online, 11-18-2008
Gotha (Thuringia), Germany: Jewish Cemetery Desecrated With Pig’s Head
November 17, 2008.
During the night of 16/17 November unknown perpetrators left a bloody pig’s head and a banner at the Jewish cemetery of Gotha with a message “6 million lies”, written in blood, next to it. The pig’s head was asphyxed to the middle of a star of David on the graveyard gate. Detlev Kasch, the Gotha police spokesman said that, “next to the graveyard gate we found four partly broken glasses with blood-like liquid”.
Michel Friedman, a TV host and former vice president of the Central Council of Jews in Germany reacted: “The perpetrators knew what they were doing. It is not a petty offence but a nasty criminal act against the Jewish religion – dirty antisemitism that is morally, politically and legally inexcusable.” The leader of the German state of Thuringia, Dieter Althaus of the Christian Democratic Union of Germany (CDU) said: “The full force of the law needs to be applied against this terror.” Meanwhile the Office of Criminal Investigation of Thuringia established a special task force of 20 people to investigate the incidents in Gotha and Erfurt.
Sources: Bild.de, 11-17-2008; ddp, 11-17-2008; Thüringer Allgemeine, 11-17-2008
Berlin, Germany: Anti-Nazi Exhibition in Humboldt University Reopened / Discussion about an Antisemitic Motivation of the Destruction
November 17, 2008.
The exhibition “Betrayed and Sold. Jewish Companies in Berlin 1933-1945” was formally reopened with a panel discussion session after pupils destroyed the exhibition during a demonstration for increased educational resources. The president of the Humboldt University, Christoph Markschies said that he was appalled at the “systematic destruction” of the exhibition.
Media reports have suggested an explicit antisemitic motivation behind the incident. According to Markschies, one of the protestors in the lobby said “Damn Israel”. Since then, a debate broke out in Germany regarding the specifically antisemitic character of the incident. According to Bild, the biggest daily newspaper in Germany, the chief of the Office of Criminal Investigation in Berlin Peter-Michael Haeberer said that his office “assumes that the exhibition was attacked specifically – for antisemitic reasons”. He added that even “dyslexics” would be able to realize that the exhibition deals with the persecution of Jews.
Cherkassy, Ukraine: Antisemitic Posters in Cherkassy
November 17, 2008.
Antisemitic posters were affixed to a wall near Cherkassy State University. The posters show a person throwing a Star of David in the garbage under the slogan “Keep the country clean!” and a Ukrainian flag. It is not clear if police are investigating the incident.
Source: Union of Councils for the Jews in the Former Soviet Union, 11-18-2008
Berlin, Germany: “Neue Wache” Besmirched
November 16, 2008.
The so called “Neue Wache” (new guard-house), a memorial site for victims of war and despotism in downtown Berlin, was vandalized with two stars of David. The police are investigating the incident.
Source: Berliner Zeitung, 11-16-2008
Berlin, Germany: Swastikas in Underground Station
November 15, 2008.
Unknown perpetrators painted eight swastikas on the walls in the entrance area of the underground station “Hallesches Tor”, in Berlin Kreuzberg. The State Office of Criminal Investigation is investigating the incident.
Source: berlin.de, 11-16-2008
Vladivostok, Russia: Rabbi Attacked
November 13, 2008.
The Chabad rabbi, Isroel Zilbersthein was knocked unconscious on the street. A man hit him in the head three times and stole his laptop. According to JTA the rabbi said he did not think the attack was related to antisemitism, but rather that the attacker wanted his laptop.
Source: JTA, 11-16-2008
Feodosia, Ukraine: Holocaust Monuments Vandalized
November 12, 2008.
A monument funded by the local Jewish community on the site of a massacre of about 200 Jews was desecrated with graffiti. The incident was reported on 12 November.
Source: JTA, 11-12-2008
Berlin, Germany: Jewish Exhibition in Berlin Humboldt-University Damaged
November 12, 2008.
During the course of student demonstration for better educational conditions in downtown Berlin, an exhibition in the auditorium of the Humboldt-University commemorating the fate of Jewish businessmen during National Socialism was seriously damaged. Some of the approximately 5000 demonstrators broke into the main building of the university and destroyed nearly all of the exhibitions’ 16 display boards Other parts of the building were also destroyed.
Source: Spiegel Online, 11-12-2008
Prague, Czech Republic: Rabbi Attacked
November 11, 2008.
Rabbi Michael Yeruham was attacked by three skinheads with a cobblestone as he was leaving a restaurant that he had just inspected as chief of kashrut in Prague. The aggressors were also shouting antisemitic slogans. The police were able to arrest the skinheads.
Source: Ynetnews.com, 11-16-2008 and 11-12-2008
Berlin (Friedrichshain), Germany: House Wall Vandalized with Antisemitic Graffiti
November 11, 2008.
Unknown perpetrators vandalized a house wall in Berlin Friedrichshain with swastikas and antisemitic expressions. The police are investigating the incident.
Source: Tagesspiegel, 11-12-2008
Berlin, Germany: Central Council of Jews in Germany Shocked by “Race” Notes
November 11, 2008.
Klaus-Michael Kühne, an influential German logistic manage responsible for organizing a consortium to by the German ship owning company Hapag-Lloyd, emphasized that he wanted to build this consortium “as full-blooded German as possible”. Kühne made this remarks during a panel discussion organized by the Deutsche Nationalstiftung (German Nationalfund) with the title “Who national Germany’s economy should be?”.
The vice president of the Central Council of Jews in Germaby, Dieter Graumann said “this word is outrageous” especially around the days of the Reichspogromnacht. “It is also shocking that the audience apparently kept silent”.
Sources: Reuters, 11-12-2008; Bild.de, 11-12-2008
Basel, Switzerland: Antisemitic Poster
November 10, 2008.
Unknown perpetrators placed a poster with antisemitic content in the window of a kosher food store in Basel. On the poster was written: “Swiss resist – don’t buy from Jews”. The National Socialists used posters with the same slogan to boycott Jewish stores.
Source: 20min.ch, 11-13-2008
Moers (North Rhine-Westphalia), Germany: Holocaust Exhibition Destroyed
November 10, 2008.
Unknown perpetrators destroyed an exhibition about the Holocaust at a commercial college in Moers, a small city next to Duisburg. The vandals robbed and destroyed 17 of 24 movable walls of the exhibition “Events of the Holocaust and Racism today”. Furthermore they affixed stickers of the right-winged National Democratic Party (NPD) in the exhibition’s windows and movable walls of the exhibition and left behind flyers related to their political party.
Source: npd-blog.info, 11-14-2008
Debrecen, Hungary: Windows of Synagogue Smashed
November 09, 2008.
According to the Brussels-based Rabbinical Centre of Europe (RCE), unknown perpetrators smashed windows in the synagogue of the Jewish Community Center in Debrecen last Saturday night, on the eve of the 70th anniversary of the Reichspogromnacht. Police opened an investigation.
Source: Ejpress.org, 11-11-2008
Demmin, Germany: Jewish Cemetery Desecrated
November 09, 2008.
During the night of 8/9 November unknown perpetrators vandalized a Jewish cemetery in Demmin, Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania. The vandals knocked down 10 headstones and desecrated new grave sites. The police are investigating the incident.
Source: Associated Press, 11-10-2008
Holzminden (Lower Saxony), Germany: Historical Grave Destroyed
November 09, 2008.
Unknown perpetrators vandalized a historic grave in a small Jewish cemetery near Holzminden. According to the police, the headstone from 1854 had been completely destroyed.
Source: taz.de, 11-13-2008
Wetter (Hesse), Germany: Jewish Cemetery Desecrated
November 09, 2008.
During the night of 8/9 November, unknown perpetrators vandalized a Jewish cemetery in Wetter, near the city of Marburg. The vandals knocked down 25 headstones and a part of the fence surrounding the cemetery. The police are investigating the incident.
Source: taz.de, 11-13-2008
