With regard to the news of a German government official saying that Jews should not feel safe to wear a yarmulke throughout Germany, an Austrian friend wrote me.
She tells me that there’s a translation or other issue dealing with the official’s statements. She also says that the problem is exacerbated by refugees who are predominantly Muslim making their way to Germany and other European countries.
The Guardian (London) and The NY Times were explicit in their coverage.
“Antisemitic hate crimes rose by 20% in Germany last year, according to interior ministry data, which blamed nine out of ten cases on the extreme right. There were 62 violent antisemitic attacks, compared to 37 in 2017. France has also seen a spike in violent incidents,” according to the Guardian.
The official’s comments were further written about in this way:
“Klein acknowledged that the arrival of more than a million asylum seekers, many from Muslim countries such as Syria, Afghanistan or Iraq, has had an impact on the situation in Germany. Some were influenced by watching certain television channels “which transmit a dreadful image of Israel and Jews”, he said. However, he emphasised that the far-right was to blame for the overwhelming majority of antisemitic crime.”
I also worry about antisemitism This is especially true given armed attacks on synagogues in Copenhagen, Pittsburgh and near San Diego. For years, I’ve referred to a small city one hundred miles away as “beautiful downtown Charlottesville” and toyed with the idea of retiring there.
Charlottesville, of course, is Ground Zero in most people’s minds for raging white supremacy rallies, an unfortunate series of events since it was only a convenient venue that had a Confederate statue. The small city voted 80% for Hillary Clinton. Surrounding Albemarle County voted 60% Democrat, a single symbol of blue in a field of Virginia’s red mountain counties.
Why make a big fuss over what one obscure German official says? Or one death protesting a white supremacy rally?
Because they’re often the cue that we read about when studying the lead up to historical events. It’s not a stretch to envision a future historian connecting the events of isolationism and white supremacy through the elections of Trump, Erdogan, and Bolsonaro nor their embrace of dictators and autocrats in countries like Saudi Arabia and North Korea to the rise in white supremacy throughout the world.
As the comments and actions of these politicians become normalized, one can easily envision a future historian writing that a minor German official sounded an alarm, but his voice was nowhere near powerful enough to command ongoing attention.
By the time people realized that their societal norms had eroded, the first battles had been fought and the first city bombed.
It’s Memorial Day in the United States, a day when Americans celebrate the memory of those who died while serving in the Armed Forces with parades, barbeques, and big box retail sales. Many people struggle with the differences between Memorial Day and Veteran’s Day.
As the holiday comes to a close, I urge you to find a combat veteran and be their audience for anything they may want to share with you. You’ll find that the mostly young people boarding planes and ships to Iraq, Saigon, Kabul, Normandy, North Africa, Seoul, and so many more places where America staged war efforts in the last century often don’t speak about the war. Any comments they make are likely to be non-linear. They’re not speaking to tell a neat Hollywood story.
Ask, if permitted by your friendly combat veteran, if people understood the run up to the war they fought. Then pray for peace, work for peace, fight for peace among nations.