For 4 years we have been establishing ourselves as a civil-society, Jewish voice in Germany. One of the topics our association has called for and accompanied was the appointment of an antisemitism commissioner. We therefore very much welcome the fact that the Federal Government has appointed Dr Klein to it.
In order to get to know him and his newly created office better, we invited him to Berlin for a panel discussion with Dr Mathias Döpfner, the head of Axel Springer SE.
Die WELT reports at length on the evening: WELTPhotos of the evening:More than 100 guests came: politicians, multipliers, members of our association and further guests followed the panel discussion between the Federal Government’s commissioner against antisemitism, Dr Felix Klein, and the chief executive of Axel Springer SE, Dr Mathias Döpfner, and joined intensively in the discussion.
After the welcome by the chairman of the Werteinitiative, Dr Elio Adler, State Secretary Christian Lange, as a representative of the Federal Government, addresses admonishing words to the visitors: He would like Kuwait Airlines to have its landing rights withdrawn if it does not wish to carry Israeli citizens.
Dr Klein says: “Anyone who expresses himself in an antisemitic way stands outside society and must answer for it”. During the audience’s later question round he explains that his office so far consists only of himself and a secretary and that he has no right whatsoever to summon people and also as yet has no budget for studies of his own or the like. But as an experienced civil servant he gives an assurance that he will obtain these things from the various ministries.
Dr Matthias Döpfner first quotes Henryk M. Broder, who provocatively but nonetheless well-meaningly said: “What is an antisemitism commissioner supposed to do? Make sure that the antisemitic rules of the game are observed? (…) The way a weather commissioner observes the weather?” Afterwards Dr Klein receives a copy of Broder’s work “Der Ewige Antisemit” with the dedication “May you succeed where I have failed”.
Döpfner sums up the situation as he sees it: “We have reached rock bottom as far as outrage about antisemitism is concerned. We have to take in the refugees who are fleeing from the war. But if antisemitism is in part reason of state there and they learn it from an early age, then we must not be surprised if they bring it with them. And here we have right-wing and left-wing antisemitism. We need a zero-tolerance limit for antisemitism. That does not mean ‘a new speech with every new case’ but ‘an action in every case!’ For this Dr Döpfner reaps the longest applause of the evening.
Dr Elio Adler says to Dr Klein: “Every left-wing, right-wing and pub-table antisemite can explain what exactly the problem with the Jews is. What you have to do there is like mass psychotherapy. Can you manage that? You need a pool of experts and the budget for it!” The WerteInitiative’s demand to the Federal Government was clear. “The post of the antisemitism commissioner must be well resourced! The man must be able to do his work.”
Also in the audience is the Jewish rapper Ben Salomo. He briefly reports on his own experience with antisemitism in Germany and asks: “How do we get back the interpretative authority over Zionism?”
Dr Klein would like to solve it by making clear the difference between antisemitism and anti-Zionism. Ben Salomo would rather the subject were taken up early on at school. “If we do not teach people what Zionism and antisemitism are, then people like Kollegah will do it”.
Dr Charlotte Knobloch wants to know from Dr Klein where he stands on the AfD. Klein on this: “Through its toleration of antisemitic statements the AfD has contributed greatly to the discourse. The way it operates is perfidious and we have seen how that falls on fertile ground. If the AfD seeks a conversation, I accept the confrontation, but I do not approach it.”
The closing words go to Rabbi Yitshak Ehrenberg: “Dr Klein, I wish you much luck. My experience is that people know nothing about Jews and Israel. When we talk with people in the synagogue for an hour, they leave with a completely different picture. In Frankfurt I talked for thirty minutes with the driver on a taxi ride. Beforehand he knew nothing. In the end he said I was a good ambassador for Israel!”
Thanks to Enno Lenze for some passages of text.
