Berlin Jews Alarmed By Spate Of Anti - Semitic Attacks

[oberliner]

BERLIN (Reuters) - Germany's Jewish community on Monday warned of an "alarming" rise in anti-Semitic violence by Arab and Turkish immigrants after Berlin police reported two unrelated attacks against Jews at the weekend.

"There's an urgent need to fight the roots of anti-Semitism, especially coming from young Turks and Arabs, and to effectively counter it," the Jewish Community in Berlin said in a statement.

"That the violence from the immigrant community is being increasingly aimed at Jews or people they assume are Jews is alarming," it added. A sensitive issue in Germany because of its Nazi past, even relatively minor reports of anti-Semitic violence make the news.

http://www.nytimes.com/reuters/2010/03/29/world/international-uk-germany-jews-attacks.html

[JNelson6563]

1. I've often wondered about this

But if I were Jewish I would likely pick a different place in the world to live than Germany. With that said...

I hope they catch the hateful bastards doing this evil and throw the book at them.

[cali]

2. This is a problem in more European countries than Germany

it's been a significant problem in Malmo Sweden.

[oberliner]

3. Here's an article from 2005 you may find interesting

A Jewish renaissance takes root
In Germany, new generation reclaims its heritage

By Colin Nickerson, Globe Staff | December 29, 2005

BERLIN -- Shelly Kupferberg, 31, is the granddaughter of Jews who fled the Nazi terror in the 1930s for the land that would become Israel. Her parents returned to Berlin in the early 1970s, weary of Israel's wars and yearning for their German heritage. She was raised both as a Jew and a German, and takes quiet pride in both identities.

''It's great to be a Jew in Germany," said Kupferberg, a journalist and adviser to Berlin's Jewish Festival. ''There's this feeling of a unique culture being reborn -- with more people in the synagogues, more Jewish artists, a sense, at last, that it's completely normal for Jewish people to be living and working here. That's something you couldn't say until recently."

The dark mid-20th century history of Germany is seared into every Jewish soul. But in a turnaround few would have imagined, Germany today boasts the fastest-growing Jewish population in the world.

While Germany's Jewish community is full of hope for the future, its rapid expansion has brought new tensions -- with animosity festering between longtime German-speaking Jews and recent immigrants from the eastern fringes of Europe, many of whom lost their Jewish traditions, if not their identity, under decades of communism.

http://www.boston.com/news/world/europe/articles/2005/12/29/a_jewish_renaissance_takes_root/