The head of Germany’s Central Council of Jews, the country’s EJC affiliate, says that antisemitism is growing in the country, causing concern for a community that is otherwise blossoming more than seven decades after the Holocaust.
Josef Schuster said at a reception of the American Jewish Committee in Berlin on Wednesday that Jews in Germany fear the increased antisemitism of far-right nationalists, Muslims immigrants and leftists, who often disguise their antisemitism as criticism of Israel.
Schuster said that in recent surveys, “90 percent of Jews perceive antisemitism as a very big problem and … 70 percent avoid carrying any Jewish symbols in public.”
He also called out the nationalist party, Alternative for Germany, which he said tolerates Holocaust deniers and does not distance itself clearly from antisemitic sentiment.