Ghosts of Nazi past haunt Germany as Gaza war puts Jews on edge

Islamist and left-wing extremists blamed for spate of anti-Semitic incidents

Berlin hosted a rally in solidarity with Israel on Sunday as German leaders condemn a surge in anti-Semitism. EPA

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Only nine days before Hamas’s surprise attack, Israel declared a “moving event for every Jew”: only 78 years after the Holocaust, the country felt safe selling advanced anti-missile weaponry to Germany.

But on Monday, after a spate of anti-Semitic incidents linked to the war in Gaza, the Central Council of Jews in Germany said worshippers faced “psychological terror” with people “feeling more and more like targets”.

Unrest in the wake of the October 7 attack by Hamas has caused dismay in Germany, which cherishes its reconciliation with Israel and its post-1945 credo of “never again”.

There was outrage after pro-Palestinian protesters chanted “free Palestine from German guilt” outside the Foreign Ministry, a slogan likened to far-right attempts to play down the Nazi past.

In recent days the Star of David has been daubed on buildings, Israeli flags burnt, a Jewish hospital had a window smashed and, in the most serious incident, Molotov cocktails were thrown at a synagogue in Berlin.

“These images are horrible from a German perspective,” Hans-Jakob Schindler, a former diplomat in the Middle East and a director of the Counter Extremism Project, told The National.

“We all remember the black-and-white pictures from the 1930s. Having Stars of David on the walls of Jewish buildings ever again in Germany is something I wouldn’t have expected to be possible and really sends some shivers down my spine.”

In a highly charged atmosphere, much of Europe is facing the same challenge: how to allow pro-Palestinian protests, acknowledging they are not necessarily pro-Hamas, while also stamping out acts of hatred or extremism.

Germany, though, is particularly sensitive. The country that perpetrated the genocide of six million Jews has already moved to ban pro-Hamas activities and shut down a group called Samidoun that staged pro-Palestinian protests.

Berlin police said dozens of officers were injured in clashes at pro-Palestinian rallies last week. A monitoring group called Rias reported 70 anti-Semitic incidents in the capital in the first 12 days of the conflict.

Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock said there were chants that had “nothing to do with sympathy for the real suffering of women and children in Gaza", but instead "question Israel’s existence and call for violence against Jews”.

“Hamas wants to prepare the ground for hatred and anti-Semitism in our societies in Europe,” she said.

Solidarity gestures

The most senior German leaders made a show of solidarity at events on Sunday, with President Frank-Walter Steinmeier addressing a rally to say any attack on Jews brought shame upon the country.

“It is intolerable that Jews are once again living in fear, in our country of all countries,” he said, speaking at Berlin’s Brandenburg Gate.

Chancellor Olaf Scholz opened a new synagogue metres from one that was wrecked by Nazi mobs in 1938, using a speech there to say Germany’s “only place” was on Israel’s side in the war against Hamas.

In another symbolic vigil, activists for Israeli hostages lit candles on the Berlin square where the Nazis once burnt books, an act remembered as a prelude to their crimes against humanity.

Some right-wing politicians have taken a more strident tone by seizing on the unrest to argue against further migration from the Middle East, with some pointing the finger at Germany’s open door to refugees in 2015.

“We have enough anti-Semitic young men in the country,” said opposition leader Friedrich Merz as he described potential refugees from Gaza as a problem for neighbouring countries to deal with.

Although neo-Nazis are the familiar face of anti-Semitism in Germany – a “deeply racist” group was banned only days before the Hamas attack for allegedly indoctrinating children about racial purity – the recent unrest has shone a light on alternative forms of prejudice.

'Bubbling up beneath the surface'

Mr Schindler said the protests had seen a “bubbling up” of an Islamist scene that does not openly call for violence but holds anti-Semitic views about Israel and Jews.

“These were below the surface until October 7. Now, you see how widespread this everyday anti-Semitism is within those networks,” he said.

“Coupled with that is that you have a curious fascination of the extreme left wing with the Palestinian cause, which they see as a kind of cause celebre for a fight against imperialism.”

Germany’s post-1945 principles have already been tested by the war in Ukraine. A policy of not sending weapons to conflict zones became untenable as Berlin was reluctantly persuaded to supply tanks to fight Russia, a decision with uncomfortable echoes of the past.

Announcing the formation of a new splinter party on Monday, firebrand left-wing MP Sahra Wagenknecht accused the government of “completely departing” from Germany’s longstanding pacifist stance.

The far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party, which has long called for Germany to move on from its penance for the past, has expressed support for Israel, a stance which Mr Schindler said corresponds to far-right thought.

“The right-wing extremist scene does anti-Semitism in a much smarter way,” he said, “that says 'we have nothing against the Jews – as long as they are in Israel'.”