How an antisemitic incident in Leipzig highlighted the chilling emergence of the far-right in Germany’s east

An incident at a hotel in Leipzig has brought to the surface latent antisemitism in parts of Germany, prompting an unflinching response from Germany’s leaders, writes Erik Kirschbaum

People gather in front of the "Westin Hotel" in Leipzig, Germany, Tuesday, Oct. 5, 2021 to show solidarity with the musician Gil Ofarim (AP)

An ugly encounter in Leipzig in which a luxury hotel manager reportedly told an Israeli-German singer to cover up his Star of David necklace first if he wanted a room has prompted a nationwide debate about a disturbing rise in antisemitism in the country that has long struggled to atone for the Holocaust.

Gil Ofarim, a little-known 39-year-old singer, has become a lightning rod for the issue of latent antisemitism in Germany after he went public with a social media video earlier in the week in which he described how staff members at the hotel appeared to ignore him while he stood in the check-in line and then, when he asked why he was being overlooked, they told him to conceal his Star of David if he wanted to get a key to his room. The employees denied the incident. The hotel suspended the employees pending the results of a police investigation.

“He told me to put my star away to be allowed to check in,” Ofarim said in a short video that went viral after he filmed himself in the Leipzig hotel lobby right after the incident took place. Close to tears, the singer added: “Is this for real? Is this Germany in 2021?”

The confrontation in Leipzig has triggered a wider discussion about an alarming trend in recent years in which antisemitism has become socially acceptable in some circles in Germany. As memories of the Holocaust have faded, especially in the formerly Communist eastern parts of the country where Leipzig is located, the younger generation may feel less burdened by the crimes of their grandparents.

In recent years, thanks in part to the rise of the AfD and spreading hate speech, some people have felt safe to say things again about Jews that were long considered taboo

Hajo Funke, political scientist and author of books on Germany’s far-right

Related to that is the surprising strength of the far-right Alternative for Deutschland (AfD) party in the east – which stunned the nation by emerging as the strongest party in last month’s federal elections in two regional states there, Saxony and Thuringia. The party’s chilling rise has also been a boon for an increasingly vocal group of its supporters who harbour antisemitic views. Analysts believe the recent rise in antisemitism in Germany also partially reflects the insidious effects of Covid-19 conspiracy theories that have gained followers here since 2020.

“Antisemitism in Germany has become more open and widespread in recent years even though it has to be said again and again that Germany is a stable democracy that takes the problem very seriously,” said Hajo Funke, a political scientist and author of several notable books on the far-right in Germany, in an interview with the Independent.

“In recent years, thanks in part to the rise of the AfD and spreading hate speech, some people have felt safe to say things again about Jews that were long considered taboo,” added Funke, who recently wrote a book about an extreme far-right regional leader in the AfD, Bernd Hocke called Die Hocke AfD. “The rise of the AfD has made it all more acceptable – about half of the AfD’s members openly admit they harbour antisemitic views.”

On Saturday, Chancellor Angela Merkel began her three-day visit to Israel, a trip that has become more sensitive because of recent antisemitic incidents in Leipzig and elsewhere. Throughout her 16 years in office soon coming to an end, she has always taken a firm stance against antisemitism in Germany.

Leipzig isn’t an isolated incident. Our society needs to come together in the fight against anti-Semitism. It’s up to all of us to speak out against it

Heiko Maas, German Foreign Minister

“She will be able to say in Israel that Germany is already doing a lot to fight antisemitism and that’s definitely the case,” added Funke. “If that’s all she says in Israel it will be disappointing. What she also needs to say in Israel is that ‘What happened in Leipzig is a scandal and that even though we are doing a lot, we are not doing enough – and doing even more to fight antisemitism will be an important task for the next government’.”

Merkel has often extolled about how proud Germany is about the revival of its Jewish culture after the Holocaust and especially in the decades after German unification in 1990.

The Jewish population grew by more than 200,000 after 1990 when Jews from the former Soviet Union were able to easily immigrate to Germany. But the number of Jews living in Germany has been slowly declining.

There have been some troubling incidents of violence against Jews in recent years. In October 2019, a 28-year-old far-right extremist killed two people outside a synagogue in the eastern city of Halle, not far from Leipzig, on Yom Kippur. The man, Stephan Balliet, called the worshippers inside the synagogue his “enemies” and was sentenced to life in prison.

German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier puts a wreath next to the Halle synagogue during commemorations on the first anniversary of the attack that left two people dead on October 09, 2020 in Halle (Getty Images)

Just last week, fans of the Union Berlin football team shouted antisemitic insults at an Israeli team they were hosting during a football match in Berlin’s Olympic Stadium. Union Berlin fans also reportedly tried to set fire to a team flag and threw beer at the Maccabi Haifa supporters.

German foreign affairs minister Heiko Maas condemned the reported abuse against Ofarim. He said that the government in Germany, where denying the Holocaust is a crime, spends more than €1bn each year fighting antisemitism, racism and right-wing extremism.

“This is the antisemitism that many Jews in Germany face in our country every day,” Maas said. “Leipzig isn’t an isolated incident. Our society needs to come together in the fight against antisemitism. It’s up to all of us to speak out against it.”

There is now intensive discussion among Germans – Jews and non-Jews – about why antisemitism has re-emerged in a country that has been so fastidious in dissecting the past and educating school children about the horrors of the Holocaust and evils of Nazism. There is also a focus on why some Jews have felt the need to conceal their Jewish identity.

“Like most Jews in Germany, I’ve tried not to show that I’m Jewish when I’m out in public,” said Ronen Steinke, a journalist and author, in an interview with German public radio. “Our Jewish identity has become invisible. Unfortunately, you see visible symbols of Jewish identity less and less in Germany over the last 10 years. When I walk out of the synagogue, I quickly bury the kippa in my pocket. There aren’t many Jews who are as bold Ofarim about showing their Jewish identity.”

Steinke, whose latest book is entitled Terror Gegen Juden (Terror Against Jews), added that even though Jews in Germany have long asked themselves the question if it might be time to flee Germany, most wouldn’t dream of leaving – because the state is thoroughly democratic and determined to vigorously fight antisemitism.

“Everyone knows that the idea of fleeing Germany isn’t the issue at the forefront of anyone’s minds but the question of fleeing into a state of invisibility is definitely there,” Steinke said.

“I’ve grown up in a country where it’s normal for me and other Jews to have police guarding our schools and synagogues. Our mentality was to accept all that as normal. I think it’s good that a younger generation around Ofarim is saying ‘No, that’s not a normal situation, it was never normal and we grew used to a situation that should never have been allowed to be seen as normal’. I hope a lot of other people will now follow his lead.”