Anti-Semitism never disappeared in Europe. It's alive and kicking
S E E D E D C O N T E N T
What does anti-Semitism look like in Europe in 2018?
It's a 17-year-old boy, too frightened to wear a kippa (a religious skullcap) on the streets of Paris. It's an Israeli restaurant owner in Berlin who is told that he will end up in the gas chambers. It's a 24-year-old Austrian who knows nothing about the Holocaust. It's the armed guards outside synagogues and Jewish schools across much of Europe. It's the online chat rooms where people peddle conspiracy theories that Jewish "globalists" run the world.
It can be violent or subtle. Overt or insidious. Political or personal. It can come from the right or the left. It exists in countries that have large Jewish populations, like France, and it also flourishes in places with smaller Jewish communities, like Poland.
But one thing is clear. Anti-Semitism is alive and well across Europe. This was the glaring conclusion of a CNN investigation, based in part on a survey of more than 7,000 adults across seven European countries.
Despite Europe's troubling history with anti-Semitism, ugly, old stereotypes persist across the continent.
More than a quarter of Europeans surveyed believe Jews have too much influence in business and finance. One in five say they have too much influence in media and politics. In individual countries the numbers are often higher: 42% of Hungarians think Jews have too much influence in finance and business across the world.
While 44% of Europeans agree that anti-Semitism is a growing problem, a substantial minority is unsympathetic to the problem. Almost one in five (18%) agree that most anti-Semitism in their country is a response to the "everyday behavior of Jewish people." In Poland, 50% of people think that Jews use the Holocaust to advance their position; 19% of Hungarians admit to having an unfavorable impression of Jews altogether.
So why is anti-Semitism a growing phenomenon once again? Poland's Chief Rabbi, Brooklyn-born Michael Schudrich, is not sure the problem ever really went away.
"There will always be people who had anti-Semitic feelings and I don't know if the number has grown but this new situation today is they feel that it's more acceptable socially that they can express these opinions out loud...
"The feeling beforehand was, 'This is what I believe but don't tell anyone.' It was not perfect but at least there was a social taboo against anti-Semitism."
CNN saw this at first hand in Germany, a country still haunted by the killing of some six million Jews at the hands of the Nazis during the Holocaust. Making anti-Semitic comments can be punishable under German law. And yet, at a rally of hundreds of right-wing extremists in the nation's capital, Berlin, we saw a man brazenly flash a Nazi salute, an act that could have landed him up to three years in jail. Another protester told us that a shadowy cabal of Jewish globalists runs the world.
The arrival of some 1.4 million refugees in Germany has energized the far right. The focus of their anger may be Muslim migrants, but they are reflexively anti-Semitic in their views. The Alternative for Germany (AfD) party, once considered a fringe element, now holds a solid 94 seats in parliament. Its message is clear: you don't have to be ashamed of being angry, you don't have to be ashamed of being white, you don't have to be ashamed of your past.
But the rise of the far right is only part of the picture. Based on dozens of interviews with members of various Jewish communities across Europe, it is clear that the threat is being felt from many sides.
In France, many Jews talk about the "new anti-Semitism," coming from radical elements of France's growing Muslim population, which can be felt on the streets of Paris' working-class suburbs.
A happy life is a hidden life, we were told again and again by French Jews who refused to appear on camera. More and more Jewish families are moving out of these traditionally mixed neighborhoods -- a concern for the French government, which believes that integration, not separation, is key to improving the situation.
In Germany, the leader of Berlin's Kahal Adass Jisroel community organization, Doron Rubin, told me there is also concern about anti-Semitism coming from Muslim refugees, "who have a different history and a different background, especially obviously coming from the Middle East, and who have, also because of Israel, a different attitude towards Jews."
The nexus between negative attitudes toward Israel and anti-Semitism is a particularly thorny issue.
More than a quarter of French people have a somewhat or significantly unfavorable impression of Jews as a result of the Israeli-Palestinian issue. This impression is by no means limited to Muslims. Across the continent, many Jews we interviewed spoke of anti-Semitism coming from the left, which is often strongly critical of Israel.
Germany has appointed an anti-Semitsm czar, Felix Klein, who is working on creating a nationwide network for reporting anti-Semitsm and on improving education and integration in schools. Elsewhere, France is spending millions of dollars trying to combat anti-Semitic hate speech online.
Many agree that Holocaust education is an important step. Half of Europeans say that commemorating the Holocaust helps to combat anti-Semitism. And yet, frighteningly, the memory of the Holocaust is starting to fade.
More than a third of Europeans have either never heard of or know just a little about the Holocaust. That number is even higher when you look at the younger generation. In France, 20% of young adults have never even heard of the Holocaust.
When I asked Rabbi Schudrich how he feels about these numbers, he paused a moment before responding, "It makes me feel I have more work to do."
Europe should pay attention.
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Should we be concerned?
Yes. The rise of right wing fascism should concern us all. Sadly, many on the right don't see it as a problem. Our own POTUS threw gas on that fire with his, "there were good people on both sides" bullshit.
Nothing like backup from the leader of the free world to inspire these cretins to act out.
It must of been Obama’s fault in 2014.
DEAN!
knock it off mister!
If Obama had been playing footsie with Nazis and white supremacists the way Trump has, I would be blaming him too.
Right wing extremism is destroying this world. Wars, terrorism, militant religiosity, subservience to corporate power, slavery, poverty, poisoned water and air, racism, bigotry, and hate. The road to world peace will have to steamroll right over this right wing scourge.
Another symptom of this nazism is seen in the movement of some families moving to Israel.
Well I find this whole situation extremely troubling and worrisome. This fear and hatred of Jews is scary.
Not all of these nazis have figured out some Jews shoot back.
Yet a concern not many do not consider here is these "blood and earth" groups often provide better national security than some nations armed forces. In several areas this is the case in east Ukraine. This unfortunately has created a following for them, because they are often the last line of defense between Russians/Russian separatists and the citizens of Ukraine.
Of course, these blood and earth groups do not take official credit for their fighting successes. In exchange the Armed Forced of Ukraine (Збройні сили України (ЗСУ)) give these groups a little bit of a free hand.
This is a dangerous situation which is a growing trend in Eastern Europe.
Very good point. The US has their own freedom fighters but their goal isn't as noble as those in Ukraine. Our gun lovers aren't quite so brave. They prefer night clubs and theaters.
Yes, these are real fighters. They have developed a folk hero status, which, in the long term can be dangerous.
That's a pretty stupid comment.
Cerenkov
It's so good to see you.
From your comment, I can see you've missed me too. You sure have a way with words.
Whatcha been up to?
Just got back from Vegas. Good eating in Vegas.
Did you win anything? I was thinking about taking a trip to Nevada but for the hiking. I've been to Vegas once. It was a little too much for me. I don't drink, smoke or gamble and wouldn't have chosen to go but went for work. Not sure how I got a gov rate at the Cosmopolitan. The room was....well the t.v. came down from the ceiling, a patio with a gate to the pool on the roof and instead of a bible in the bedside table there was a copy of the kamasutra (YIKES - I didn't know people could bend that way!). The room was pretty awesome but a bit of a waste on me. It was too opulent for my taste.
I watch a lot of Holocaust documentaries on Amazon Prime. One night I came across one that was about the Dutch and their Nazi collaborators. The man doing the interviews talked with one man who was an engineer on one of the deportation trains. As he was talking, his wife who was sitting in the background spoke up about how Jews control everything like the banks and finance and that they were sneaky and couldn't be trusted.
This documentary was made circa 2006 or thereabouts, not 1936. The Netherlands don't have a large Jewish population today due to the antisemitism that still exists there.
This article is about Jews. But this is a bit more complex than that. Recently, Steve Bannon was in Hungary and he told the cheering crowd to, "Proudly wear your racism."
The Jewish people have always been the first and easiest target. But they are not the only target. The right wing extolls a false 'whiteness' as much as it bears a false witness.
Uh, isn't Bannon sort of in the Trump orbit?
Do you have a link to that? Not doubting you. Just interested.
google Steve Bannon-let them call you a racist.
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Chess? Good idea Tig, time for a game...