A rabbi and eight of his students were attacked in Berlin
early this week while returning from an event held by the
city's Jewish community. Two unidentified men driving in
front of the van stopped and got out of their car, then threw
a burning object at the van while shouting antisemitic
epithets.
The students in the van were able to write down the license
plate number, which they submitted to police when filing a
complaint. According to a police statement, "The 36-year-old
rabbi was unable to identify the object thrown at him and his
students."
Community figures said told reporters they find it
astonishing to see once again that the German capital, which
should serve as an example of tolerance for all of Europe due
to the lessons learned from its dark past, is the site of
more and more acts of antisemitism. They called on the German
government to act to put a stop to nationalist and neo-Nazi
groups. Otherwise there is no guarantee history will not
repeat itself.
For decades following the Holocaust Germany had only a small
Jewish community, but in the early 1990s the government
started to promote the immigration of FSU Jews. To date
220,000 have arrived, causing a sharp rise in the rate of
antisemitism in the country, especially in the area that was
formerly East Germany.
Last year crimes by right-wing extremists rose by nine
percent and the Interior Ministry recently reported a further
increase in the first half of 2008.
For instance the Holocaust memorial in the middle of Berlin,
which consists of 2,700 stone cubes representing gravestones,
is attacked on a regular basis by vandals who soil it and
spray-paint swastikas and neo-Nazi slogans.
In the federal state of Saxon in the eastern portion of
Germany, for example, local authorities reported 91 attacks
against foreigners by neo-Nazis since the beginning of 2008.
Some worry this activity is no longer localized, but is
spreading to other regions and becoming more organized.
