Düsseldorf (dpa / lnw) – The state parliamentary groups in North Rhine-Westphalia have denounced attacks on Jewish life, such as the recent case in Essen. NRW is home to the largest Jewish community in the Federal Republic, said CDU faction leader Thorsten Schick on Wednesday in the Düsseldorf state parliament. Statistically, there is an attack every day in North Rhine-Westphalia. “Every single incident is one incident too many.” There is also a larger dark field. “Jewish life, Jews, are repeatedly exposed to hatred and violence. Also in our country. That is disgraceful.”
The shots in Essen at the former rabbi’s house of the old synagogue were also aimed “at the heart of the interreligious dialogue,” emphasized Schick. In 2018, the Office of the Anti-Semitism Officer was created in NRW, and in April 2022 the Anti-Semitism Reporting Office. In addition, a dark field study was commissioned this October.
Investigators are assuming that the shots fired at the former rabbi’s house on Friday night were “acts motivated by extremism and anti-Semitism.” The parliamentary group leader of the Greens, Verena Schäffer, complained that in 2021 the police recorded a record high of anti-Semitic crime in NRW with 437 crimes. Protection must also be improved with education and prevention. Every child has the right to grow up without anti-Semitism.
SPD faction leader Thomas Kutschaty spoke of an attack on Jews and at the same time on democracy. It is a shame that Jews have cause for fear. In NRW there is “not a millimeter of space” for anti-Semitism. On behalf of the FDP, chairman Henning Höne warned that prejudice and resentment against Jews were alarmingly widespread. In Germany, there are five anti-Semitic crimes every day.
