Jewish Council advises against wearing kippas in major German cities
Central Jewish Council President advises Germany’s Jews against
wearing kippas in major cities. Photo: DPA
The recent attack on two men wearing kippas in Berlin has alarmed the Central Jewish Council. On Tuesday its President, Josef Schuster, advised Germany’s Jews against wearing kippas in cities like Berlin or Munich.
“Confessing defiantly would in principle be the right way”, Schuster told the radio program Rundfunk Berlin-Brandenburg (RBB) on Tuesday. “Nevertheless, I would actually have to advise individuals not to openly wear a kippa in the metropolitan setting of Germany.”
Schuster was responding to the case of an attack on a kippa wearer in Berlin last Tuesday, which caused fierce discussions about anti-Semitism in Germany.
Jewish people living in Germany’s major cities should “wear a baseball cap or something else”, rather than the traditional Jewish head covering, Schuster suggested.
Schuster warned that if open anti-Semitism is not countered, then democracy in Germany is in danger.
“It is not just anti-Semitism, it is also racism and xenophobia. This requires a clear stop sign,” he said.
Despite this warning, Schuster said in the lead-up to Wednesday’s “Berlin wears kippas” solidarity rally that he believes “the majority of society has understood that we have also reached a certain turning point” concerning the place of anti-Jewish sentiments in German society.
Last Tuesday, two men aged 21 and 24 who were wearing kippas were attacked by an Arabic-speaking man on a street in the Berlin district of Prenzlauer Berg. One of them was beaten with a belt and slightly injured.
The following Thursday, Berlin police reported that a 19-year-old suspect turned himself in to the police for the crime.