Anti-Semitism report by the German Bundestag

The anti-Semitism report of the German Bundestag tries to take stock of current anti-Semitic currents in Germany. After the Bundestag, on November 4, 2008, on the 70th anniversary of the November pogroms in 1938 , called for the fight against anti-Semitism to be strengthened and for Jewish life to be further promoted in Germany , the Federal Government commissioned an independent team of experts to prepare a report on anti-Semitism in Germany. The report was presented on January 23, 2012.

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The anti-Semitism report of the German Bundestag contains six chapters: I. Anti-Semitism - Context and Definition, II. Inventory, III. Anti-Semitism in the plural society, IV. Preventive measures, V. Conclusion - the main findings of the report, VI. Recommendations.

Chapters and sub-chapters are each concluded with a summarizing "conclusion".

One conclusion of the report says that “latent anti-Semitic attitudes”, ie thought patterns that are not expressed in criminal offenses, are “to a considerable extent” anchored “in the middle of society”. Scientists and experts who prepared the report state that this latent anti-Semitism exists in around 20 percent of the population. However, they do not refer to their own surveys, but refer to “the relevant studies” in the report, which speak “of up to 20 percent of the population”. And further it says there:

“From all of this, it follows that statements such as '15 percent of Germans are anti-Semitic '[…] are ultimately assessments based on certain interpretations of the available figures, the collection of which can sometimes be methodical criticism. [...] All in all, it can be said that surveys on the subject of anti-Semitism are more suitable for showing trends than providing precise figures for a specific reference date. "

Particularly dangerous is the "appearing connectivity of the far-reaching the center of society and not sufficiently outlawed anti-Semitism for right-extremist ideas". The report also points out, however, that many statements in the press that convey the relevant content “are mostly thoughtless stereotypes with no anti-Semitic intentions.” As an example, the illustration of reporting on elections in Israel “in a kind of automatism with pictures of ultra-orthodox Jews ”.

In the left-wing extremist camp, the report sees "substantive links for anti-Semitism in the criticism of Israel " ("Israel as an artificial state without a right to exist, which is associated with genocide and racism "). In conclusion, the report writes:

“If one defines anti-Semitism as hostility to Jews as Jews, [...] no ideological clues for such a position can be found in the anarchist or communist self-image. It is therefore not surprising that the constitution protection authorities, as observers of political extremism, can prove anti-Semitism for Islamism and right-wing extremism, but not for left-wing extremism. "

The report mentions the internet as a medium for spreading anti-Semitism, with right-wing extremists , Holocaust deniers and extremist Islamists spreading their propaganda . The group of experts recommends that the “Internet and Digital Society” study commission address anti-Semitic stereotyping and anti-Semitic content on the Internet.

For the 200-page report, the scientists evaluated various studies based on opinion polls. The report defines itself as “an initial inventory that focuses on certain priorities and is intended to form the basis for possible subsequent reports.” The expert group also explains: “... the extent of anti-Semitism can be determined - just as little as its effect on individuals , on groups and on society as a whole - not binding. "

Independent expert group on anti-Semitism

The constituent meeting of the independent expert group on anti-Semitism took place in September 2009. The committee should regularly submit the anti-Semitism report of the German Bundestag. Peter Longerich and Juliane Wetzel act as coordinators.

The members were initially scientists and practitioners :

• Aycan Demirel, head of the Kreuzberg Initiative against Anti-Semitism (KIgA)
• Olaf Farschid , Islamic scholar (focus: Islamist ideology , Islamic economics and political iconography of the Middle East ) and academic advisor at the Senate Department for the Interior, Berlin
• Elke Gryglewski , academic and educational assistant at the House of the Wannsee Conference Memorial and Education Center
• Johannes Heil , first prorector of the University for Jewish Studies Heidelberg
• Peter Longerich , Professor of German History, Royal Holloway, University of London
• Armin Pfahl-Traughber , lecturer at the University of Bonn , editor of the yearbook for extremism and terrorism research
• Martin Salm ( resigned at the end of 2010), Chairman of the Board of the Foundation "Remembrance, Responsibility and Future" (EVZ)
• Julius H. Schoeps , director of the Moses Mendelssohn Center for European-Jewish Studies in Potsdam
• Wahied Wahdat-Hagh , Senior Research Fellow at the European Foundation for Democracy (EFD)
• Juliane Wetzel , research associate at the Center for Research on Antisemitism at the Technical University of Berlin , managing editor of the Yearbook for Research on Antisemitism , member of the Task Force for International Cooperation on Holocaust Education, Remembrance and Research.

To supplement the empirical section and the current situation within the churches, four external expert reports were prepared, which are available online. The author of an expertise was sociologist Werner Bergmann , professor at the Center for Research on Antisemitism at the TU Berlin, who explained the background to anti-Semitism in Germany in an interview.

At the beginning of 2015, the body was reorganized and has had the following members since its constituent meeting on January 19, 2015:

• Werner Bergmann, Professor of Sociology at the Center for Research on Antisemitism at the Technical University of Berlin (until September 2016)
• Aycan Demirel (see above)
• Elke Gryglewski (see above)
• Klaus Holz , sociologist, general secretary of the Evangelical Academies in Germany , Berlin
• Beate Küpper , graduate psychologist, Niederrhein University of Applied Sciences, Social Sciences (FH), Krefeld
• Armin Pfahl-Traughber (see above)
• Patrick Siegele , philologist and musicologist, director of the Anne Frank Center , Berlin
• Juliane Wetzel (see above)

Following criticism of the lack of Jewish experts in this body, the following were appointed to the group of experts in May 2015:

• Andreas Nachama , Director of the Topography of Terror Foundation and
• Marina Chernivsky , psychologist, Central Welfare Office for Jews in Germany

See also

• International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance , working definition on anti-Semitism, adopted by Germany

Web links

• Anti-Semitism in Germany - manifestations, conditions, prevention approaches , at the German Bundestag , November 10, 2011 (PDF, 3 MB)
• German Bundestag, printed matter 19/349419: Response on behalf of the federal government to control mechanisms against anti-Semitism within federally owned companies , July 20, 2018, to a small request from MPs Till Mansmann , Christoph Hoffmann , other MPs and the FDP parliamentary group (printed matter 19/2878 from 18 . July)

Footnotes

1. ↑ ^{a b c d e} Anti-Semitism report of the German Bundestag online (PDF; 3.2 MB)
2. ↑ The independent expert group on anti-Semitism. (No longer available online.) Federal Ministry of the Interior, November 2011, archived from the original on June 16, 2012 ; Retrieved January 26, 2012 . Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.  
3. ^ Supplementary expertise by: Albert Scherr, Matthias Blum, Andreas Zick, Beate Küpper and Werner Bergmann. (No longer available online.) November 2011, archived from the original on June 16, 2012 ; Retrieved January 27, 2012 . Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.  
4. ↑ Anti-Semitism - "an attempt to ward off guilt". tagesschau.de, January 23, 2012, accessed on January 27, 2012 . 
5. ↑ http://www.bmi.bund.de/SharedDocs/Kurzmektiven/DE/2015/01/expertenkreis-antisemitismus-nektiven-arbeit-auf.html
6. ↑ Article in the Jüdischen Allgemeine from May 21, 2015