Press release: news on the SPIEGEL investigation, following the SPIEGEL article “Gezielte Kampagne” of 13 July 2019
DER SPIEGEL has uncovered something further and groundbreaking: two years ago the WerteInitiative is said to have urgently requested the appointment of an official commissioner against antisemitism at federal level. No doubt we shall soon be able to read this in print in DER SPIEGEL. Here already is our answer: we say yes, we own up to it and we admit it: as early as 2017 we suspected that combating antisemitism in Germany would become more explosive and therefore ever more important. Scarcely a day passes without an attack on Jews in Germany. Perhaps DER SPIEGEL might research that for once. On prejudices against Jews, too, there is certainly a great deal to be discovered.
As an initial piece of research into prejudice, we recommend that DER SPIEGEL look at the cover of its own current special issue DER SPIEGEL GESCHICHTE 4/19 “Jüdisches Leben in Deutschland”, which we have attached for convenience. With its subtitle “Die unbekannte Welt nebenan” it shows what Jews today, in the eyes of DER SPIEGEL, apparently typically look like: namely much like long-familiar clichés. Rather than entrenching such images, it would be appropriate, particularly in times such as these, to visualise the “unknown world” with pictures of Jews as they actually mostly look in Germany today.
What actually happened?
On 13 July 2019, under the headline “Gezielte Kampagne”, Der Spiegel reported among other things on the WerteInitiative. The piece attempted to discredit our political engagement through insinuating formulations and conjecture. The tenor: that we were trying to influence German politics by dishonest means. Our civic, voluntary commitment was all but criminalised in the text. Evidence: none. In doing so, the report addressed antisemitic images and conspiracy theories in the minds of receptive readers and was presumably intended to silence us.
Publication was followed by wide-ranging and often very outspoken criticism of the SPIEGEL article from across the entire political spectrum.
DER SPIEGEL therefore now surely finds itself under pressure to justify itself.
Yesterday we were once again sent extensive questions from the SPIEGEL editorial team which, once again, are not designed to obtain objective knowledge about our work. Rather, they aim to confirm an evidently preconceived (editorial?) opinion, or to justify it after the fact. We have therefore decided no longer to answer SPIEGEL’s enquiry. There is no basis for providing information, since it would certainly be used to continue painting a distorted picture.
By way of example, DER SPIEGEL finds it particularly questionable that, alongside our concern to have a federal commissioner against antisemitism appointed, we had a further interest: that the television channel arte should broadcast the documentary on antisemitism in Europe which was initially dropped in 2017.
What else would a political organisation of Jewish Germans do on these two points, given the growing hatred against us Jews and the growing attacks on civil peace?
We campaign for the protection and preservation of the free democratic basic order, for it is not only the foundation of a Jewish future in Germany but also guarantees the peaceful coexistence of all individuals in our society. That is the core of our interest. We are not professionals but a group of committed citizens who do something for the good of all in their spare time.
We shall therefore continue to work for the consolidation of the free and democratic social culture of our state and will continue to cultivate and maintain contact with the relevant political and social forces in our country. That naturally includes substantive exchange with elected representatives of democratic parties at state and federal level.
Dear recipient of this press release,
you have probably been receiving communications of this kind, and the offer to get to know us, for years. We would be glad to hear from you and are happy to talk to you about our work.
Some of our forthcoming themes: “Policy recommendations”, 1,700 years of Jewish life in Germany, a ban on Hezbollah in its entirety, dealing with online hate speech, a video channel on political topics concerning our free democratic basic order and on Jewish subjects.
Please send any questions to kontakt@werteinitiative.de
The Board of
WerteInitiative e.V.
