Caps on as Germans protest anti-Semitism

GERMANY: Germans of various faiths donned Jewish skullcaps and took to the streets yesterday in several cities to protest an antiSemitic attack in Berlin and to express fears about growing hatred of Jews in the country.

The ‘‘wear a kippah’’ protests were triggered by the daytime assault last week of two young men wearing skullcaps in an upscale neighbourhood in the German capital.

The attack, in which a 19-yearold Syrian asylum seeker is a suspect, drew outrage in Germany and sharp condemnation by Chancellor Angela Merkel.

It is the latest of several antiSemitic incidents that have many Jews wondering about their safety in Germany, which has tried to atone for the Nazis killing 6 million European Jews in the Holocaust more than 70 years ago.

The rising tensions have come at a time when Germany is grappling with an influx of more than 1 million mostly Muslim migrants, along with the rise of a nationalist party, Alternative for Germany, which was elected to parliament last year. Its leaders are known for their openly anti-Muslim stance, but their apparent.

More than 2000 people – Jews, Christians, Muslims and atheists – put on kippahs in a show of solidarity in Berlin. They cheered when Berlin Mayor Michael Mueller told them: ‘‘Today, we all wear kippah.’’

Jewish community leaders said it was the biggest such display in public since before World War II.

Reinhard Borgmann, a 65-yearold Jew who lost several greatuncles in the Holocaust and whose mother only survived because she hid from the Nazis, said he was anti-Semitism is less pleased that dozens of organisations had turned out to support the demonstration.

Hundreds of people also rallied in Cologne, Erfurt, Magdeburg and Potsdam.

Germany’s main Jewish leader, Josef Schuster, earlier sparked tension within the Jewish community when he said he would advise people visiting big cities against wearing Jewish skullcaps. His comments drew sharp criticism from other Jewish leaders, who said Jews should wear a kippah to show they were not afraid. –AP