German Jews have been warned not to wear the traditional kippa in public after a rise of anti-Semitism and the resurgence of far-right parties in the country.
The government’s anti-Semitism commissioner, Felix Klein, said the increase in attacks was “shameful for our country”.
He added: “I cannot recommend to Jews that they wear the skullcap at all times everywhere in Germany.”
Official figures show hate crimes against Jews rose 10% in 2018 to 1,646 and physical attacks against Jews rose to 62, up from 37 the year before.
Klein suggested “the lifting of inhibitions and the uncouthness” of society could be behind the spike and the internet, social media and “constant attacks against our culture of remembrance” may be contributing factors, he said.
But the message from the German government appears to be mixed – earlier this month the country’s highest court ordered public broadcaster ARD to air a small neo-Nazi party’s election campaign clip, overturning a ban on the advertisement imposed on grounds that it amounted to incitement against foreigners.
The National Democratic Party (NDP) advertisement features a voice-over saying: “Since the arbitrary opening of the border in 2015 and the uncontrolled mass migration that followed, Germans have become almost daily victims.”
The voice-over is accompanied by images of crime scenes and names of victims of violence, including murder.
The NPD and Germany’s main far-right opposition party, the Alternative for Germany (AfD), both say crime is on the rise because of an influx of mainly young Muslim men.
Germany’s interior minister said earlier this week that anti-Semitic crime had risen 20% last year and blamed most incidents on individuals espousing far-right world views.
Germany’s Jews are alarmed by the rise of the AfD, whose leaders have been accused of playing down Nazi crimes and for having described a national memorial to the victims of the Holocaust as a “memorial of shame.”
The AfD entered the Bundestag (national lower house of parliament) for the first time in an election in 2017, a feat that has eluded the NPD since its founding in the 1960s.
A study earlier this this month found an alarming rise in anti-Semitic incidents worldwide, but the spike was most dramatic in western Europe, where Jews have faced even greater danger and threats.
“There is an increasing sense of emergency among Jews in many countries around the world,” said Moshe Kantor, president of the European Jewish Congress, an umbrella group representing Jewish communities across the continent.
“It is now clear that anti-Semitism is no longer limited to the far-left, far-right and radical Islamist’s triangle — it has become mainstream and often accepted by civil society,” he said.