Anti-Jewish sentiments are thought to be deeply rooted in a fifth of the ethnic German population, and some Muslim residents also hold clearly anti-Semitic views. Berlin activists wants to change that. The Kreuzberg Initiative Against Anti-Semitism (KIGA), helps to develop programs and concepts to enable multi-ethnic schools to tackle anti-Jewish sentiments with sound arguments. There’s a lot of work to be done.
According to a recent study conducted by the Emnid polling institute among young Turks living in Germany, a minority has taken a real interest in learning more about Jews, their contributions to German society and what they had to endure in Nazi Germany.
The leader of Germany’s opposition Green party, Cem Oezdemir, who has Turkish roots himself, calls it a form of “anti-Semitism without Jews”. “These young Muslims are often people who don’t know any Jews in person,” Oezdemir said. “Their radical views stem from an over-identification with the Middle East conflict, from parents who are willing to employ all the well-known Jew-related clichés, and from schools that don’t know how to tackle the problem in classes full of students with migrant backgrounds.”
