Study warns that anti-Semitism is deeply rooted in Germany

More than 65 years after the fall of the Nazi regime, anti-Semitism is still deeply rooted and considerably widespread throughout German society, according to the authors of an independent expert study released today. The study has found that anti-Jewish attitudes are manifested most strongly by adherents of the German ultra-right and radical Muslims living in Germany, but roughly 20 % of the German population overall displays latent anti-Semitism, according to the experts’ findings.

The authors say that in Germany there still exists “the habit of anti-Semitic verbal outbursts and other everyday practices which have spread to the very center of society.” They say these habits come from deeply rooted clichés about Jewishness or simple ignorance of the religion of Judaism. Anti-Semitic chants continue to be frequent among football fans.

The authors of the study, which is more than 200 pages long, say the internet is playing a significant role in spreading these destructive opinions in Germany and is accelerating their dissemination primarily among youth. In some cases of Islamic anti-Semitism, the internet is also helping to radicalize some German citizens of Arab or Turkish origin.

The German experts claim that the ultra-right, Holocaust deniers, and radical Islamists are using the worldwide web “completely naturally as a platform for their propaganda” and that the most clear-cut “political vehicle for anti-Semitism” continues to be the extreme right and its adherents, who are the perpetrators of 90 % of all criminal activity linked to anti-Semitism. Such views are said to be the “most influential ideological link” between all such groups, to which about 25 000 people in Germany belong.

The report claims that anti-Semitism is also an important ideological element for German Islamists. Unlike the neo-Nazis, however, their anti-Jewish stance is religiously motivated. According to the most recent annual report of the German domestic intelligence services, there are 29 radical Islamist groups active in the Federal Republic with a total of about 37 400 followers.

In comparison with other European countries, the degree to which anti-Semitism is widespread in Germany is about average, according to the authors of the study. Hungary, Poland and Portugal show extremely high manifestations of anti-Semitism, according to the report.

The 10-member expert group was established by the German government in 2009 on the basis of a decision by a parliamentary committee. The staff of the group are to regularly submit recommendations and studies on how to proceed against anti-Semitism in Germany. This was their first-ever report.