From WN

German schools have been told to take action on anti-Semitic hate crimes and bullying following several incidents involving Jewish students in the capital Berlin, Britain’s Daily Mail reports.

Earlier this year, a teenage boy at an international school in Berlin was subjected to months of bullying for being Jewish, while a Jewish girl at another school in the city received death threats after declaring her faith.

The number of anti-Semitic hate crimes in Berlin has increased by 19 percent since last year, with one in five such crimes in Germany taking place in the capital, according to new statistics.

Figures published today found that at least 80 hate crimes against Jewish people had been registered in the capital in the first six months of 2018 – 20 percent 20 percent of all 401 anti-Semitic incidents registered across the country.

In the first six months of 2017, Berlin authorities reported only 67 anti-Semitic hate crimes, according to Deutsche Welle.

Last month, the German government announced plans to send 170 “anti-bullying experts” into schools across the country to tackle a rise in anti-Semitism among children.

It followed widespread outrage over the harassment case involving a 15-year-old Jewish boy at a German-American bilingual school in Berlin.

The teenager suffered anti-Semitic bullying for months, including having cigarette smoke blown in his face “to remind him of his ancestors” – a reference to Nazi gas chambers.

‘We are dealing with a societal problem. Such incidents occur in all types of schools and all over Germany,’ the president of the Central Council of Jews in Germany, Josef Schuster, said in a statement in response to the report.

“Religious bullying often comes from Muslim students, but not only them. Anti-Semitism is found in all segments of society.” – Josef Schuster

Jewish teachers are also reporting feeling increasingly wary of telling students of their faith, and are unsure how to tackle anti-Semitic conspiracy theories.

Such conspiracy theories are reportedly becoming increasingly prevalent, according to Germany’s American Jewish Committee (AJC).

‘Students will say: Well, I don’t believe that – I’m going to ask my Imam,’ Deidre Berger, director of the AJC in Berlin told The Washington Post.

“And that’s when a secular democracy is very much put to the test, when students don’t believe the authority of their teachers.”

A Berlin-based teacher who spoke to the Washington Post said she hides her faith, and that she had some pupils who praised Adolf Hitler to her face.

‘I’m trying to ignore this as much as I can, but at the end of the day I have feelings, too,’ she told the paper.

WN.com, Jim Berrie

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