ドイツ、反ユダヤ主義に抗議する大規模集会

【ベルリンＡＦＰ＝時事】ドイツの首都ベルリンにあるブランデンブルク門周辺で２２日、イスラエルへの連帯を表明し、反ユダヤ主義に抗議する大規模集会が開かれた。オラフ・ショルツ首相は同日、反ユダヤ主義を一掃する考えを表明した。（写真は、イスラエルへの連帯を表明し、反ユダヤ主義に抗議する大規模集会。ドイツの首都ベルリンにあるブランデンブルク門で）
　集会の参加人数について、警察は約１万人としているが、主催者発表は２万５０００人だった。
　これに先立ち、ショルツ氏は東部デッサウでシナゴーグ（ユダヤ教の会堂）の開設式典に出席し、「ドイツで反ユダヤ主義は一切容認されない」と明言。ドイツはユダヤ人の生活を「保護する」と表明するとともに、「世界中、そして恥ずべきことに、ここドイツにも」反ユダヤ主義が広がっていることに衝撃を受けていると述べた。
　イスラム組織ハマスによる７日の越境攻撃とイスラエルの報復攻撃以来、ドイツでは、反ユダヤ主義的な事件が相次いでいる。
　ベルリンでは、ユダヤ人の住宅数軒にナチス・ドイツがユダヤ人に着用させた「ダビデの星」の印が落書きされ、１８日にはシナゴーグに火炎瓶２本が投げつけらた。
　反ユダヤ主義調査情報センターによると、７日から１５日にかけて報告された反ユダヤ主義的な「事件」は２０２件に上った。
　内務省によれば、ドイツのユダヤ人コミュニティーの規模は欧州で３番目に大きい。在独ユダヤ人中央評議会は、信仰を実践している敬虔（けいけん）なユダヤ人は約１０万人に上り、シナゴーグは約１００か所ある。
　ベルリンでイスラエル支持集会に参加していた教師（６０）は、「必ずしも親イスラエルの立場を取っているわけではないが、ドイツで反ユダヤ主義の風潮が強まっているのはとても心配だ」と話した。
　音楽関係の仕事をしている女性（４１）は、「私たちがイスラエルへの支持を表明するのは非常に大事」だとし、「特に私たちドイツ人には特別な責任がある」と語った。
　ドイツ国内では７日以降、イスラエルだけではなくパレスチナ人を支持する大規模な集会も数回開かれている。２２日には、ブランデンブルク門付近で同じくパレスチナの支持集会も予定されていたが、反ユダヤ主義と暴力行為が発生する恐れがあるとして当局は開催を禁止した。【翻訳編集ＡＦＰＢＢＮｅｗｓ】
〔ＡＦＰ＝時事〕（2023/10/23-16:56）

Several thousand people rallied in support of Israel in Berlin on Sunday as the German Chancellor Olaf Scholz vowed to stamp out a resurgence of anti-Semitic incidents in the wake of the Israel-Hamas conflict.
Police said around 10,000 people gathered at Brandenburg Gate for the demonstration in solidarity with Israel and in opposition to anti-Semitism, though organisers put the figure at 25,000.
It is unbearable that Jews are living in fear again today -- especially in our country, Germany's President Frank-Walter Steinmeier told the crowds.
Every single attack on Jews, on Jewish institutions, is a disgrace for Germany. Every single attack fills me with shame and anger, he said.
Earlier in the day, Chancellor Olaf Scholz expressed a similar message at the opening of a new synagogue in the city of Dessau.
There must be zero tolerance for anti-Semitism in Germany, Scholz said.
Germany will defend and protect Jewish life, he added, voicing his shock at anti-Semitism spreading around the world and, shamefully, also here in Germany.
- Molotov cocktails -
Germany has seen a spate of anti-Semitic incidents in the wake of the October 7 attacks by Hamas on Israel and Israel's retaliatory bombing campaign.
Some Jewish homes in Berlin have been marked with the Star of David and attackers last week hurled two Molotov cocktails at a Jewish synagogue in the city.
There must be no turning a blind eye when Jews are not safe on Germany's streets, when Stars of David are smeared on homes, when firebombs are thrown at synagogues, Scholz said.
The opening of the synagogue in Dessau came 85 years after a synagogue in the city was destroyed in the Kristallnacht anti-Jewish pogrom on November 9, 1938, when Nazi mobs torched and ransacked synagogues and Jewish-owned businesses across Germany -- widely seen as the start of the Third Reich's drive to wipe out Jews.
The new building has been named the Weill Synagogue after the German-American composer Kurt Weill, whose father was a cantor in Dessau's Jewish community.
Dessau is just 50 kilometres (30 miles) from Halle, where a gunman killed two people after failing to storm a synagogue on Yom Kippur in October 2019.
Germany has the third-largest Jewish community in Europe, according to the interior ministry.
The Central Council of Jews in Germany puts the number of practising Jews in the country at around 100,000 and the number of synagogues at around 100.
- Painful memories -
Anti-Semitic acts have increased sharply in the country amid the latest turmoil in the Middle East, according to the Federal Association of Research and Information Centres on Anti-Semitism (RIAS).
In the period from October 7 to 15, RIAS documented 202 anti-Semitic incidents compared with just 59 during the same week in 2022.
Sigmount Koenigsberg, a pointman on anti-Semitism for the city's Jewish community, told the Rheinische Post newspaper on Sunday that the rise anti-Jewish incidents brought back painful memories of Nazi Germany.
It is the first time since Nazi rule that this is happening again in Germany. It reminds my community very much of that terrible time, he said.
Susanne Liebegott, a 60-year-old teacher, said she attended the rally in Berlin because it is important for me to stand against anti-Semitism.
I'm not necessarily pro-Israel and don't really take a stand. But the anti-Semitism in Germany, which is also on the rise, worries me a lot, she told AFP.
Carsten Remmers, 41, a music business manager at the demo with his four-year-old daughter, said it was enormously important to say that we stand by Israel.
Especially we as Germans have a special responsibility, he said.
Germany has seen several large rallies in support of both Israel and the Palestinians since October 7.
A planned pro-Palestinian demonstration near the Brandenburg Gate on Sunday was banned due to fears of anti-Semitism and violence.