The following report from German television discusses an upsurge of Jew-hatred in Berlin’s public schools. Needless to say, the culprits are not blue-eyed, blond-haired, sieg-heiling Hitlerjugend, but rather swarthy “youths” from locales somewhat to the south of Germany…

Many thanks to Egri Nök for the translation, and to Vlad Tepes for the subtitling:

The accompanying article from Rundfunk Berlin-Brandenburg Online was also translated by Egri Nök:

Teachers lament anti-Semitism in Berlin’s schoolyards

July 19, 2017

“You Jew” as a frequent insult, or Koran teachers who examine what was taught in the public school: teachers in Berlin report in a study that anti-Semitism and Islamism are gaining more and more acceptance among their pupils.

By Sascha Adamek and Jo Goll

Anti-Semitism and Salafism are part of daily life among pupils with Turkish and Arabic background. This is the finding of a qualitative study among teachers at 21 schools in Berlin that RBB obtained.

A large portion of the interviewed teachers in Berlin were confronted with anti-Semitic incidents. Some pupils, under the guidance of “religious authorities” from mosque associations, put pressure on classmates. Particularly girls and young women, secular Muslims, and homosexuals are victims.

Interviews at 21 schools in Berlin

To get an initial picture, the American Jewish Committee (AJC) commissioned interviews with teachers, parallel to Berlin’s model project “Strengthen Democracy — Active against Anti-Semitism and Salafism”. According to this survey based on interviews from autumn 2015 to spring 2016, anti-Semitic tendencies especially are growing at schools.

For the survey, teachers from 21 secondary schools in eight districts of Berlin were interviewed in cooperation with the Public Institute for School and Media in Berlin Brandenburg. Among them were schools with a high percentage of pupils with Turkish or Arab migration background, but also schools in very middle-class districts. The authors point out that the survey is not a representative study of the complete situation at schools in Berlin, but an empirical approach to the topic.

They noted that anti-Semitic stereotypes and enemy stereotypes were very prevalent at some schools, according to the interviewed teachers. On some schoolyards, it were normal to insult each other as “You Jew!”

Islamic “morals enforcers” among the pupils

The AJC documentation reports that in the past, children and youths with migration background used to define themselves by their ethnic identity, but today instead by their religion. Teachers reported that this identification meant dissociation and rejection of others. Thus, according to the study, some pedagogues talked about literal “morals enforcers”, who are being schooled by “religious authorities”, and that subjects taught in the school are later examined.

At the same time, according to a statement by one teacher, these “morals enforcers” discipline other people, which particularly afflicts secular Muslim pupils, those of other creeds, and atheists. The documentation said concerning the influence of mosque associations: “Some of those interviewed reported an ‘examination’ of the school materials by religious authorities like a Koran teacher or mosques. Sometimes, the statements of these institutions were valued higher.” A pedagogue said: “We have some sort of parallel education now. On the one side we have that what is officially taught in school, and then, with many pupils, we have mosque visits and mosque associations that exert influence.”

Teachers lament brainwashing in Koran school

One teacher reports in the AJC survey that he has been observing for 15 years how some pupils regularly visit the Al Nur Mosque in Berlin. “We ask ourselves how skillful their brainwashing is to be able to turn the pupils so anti-Western, so anti-American, anyway, and anti-Semitic too, so quickly. We need to counteract this with all our might — and we are successful with some, but not with all.”

Michael Rump-Räuber of the Public Institute for School and Media as the representative of the LISUM, together with the AJC, oversees the project Strengthen Democracy — Active against anti-Semitism and Neo-Salafism. He therefore receives constant feedback from teachers. He remembers statements by teachers after the attack on the Christmas Market in Berlin. Conspiracy theories immediately circulated among some pupils, according to which the attack was staged by the Jews and the USA, and the attacker Amri was a CIA agent who wanted to incite hatred towards Muslims. “I told the teachers to talk to the pupils, explain things,” says Michael Rump-Räuber. “Our institute has been dealing with the problems of anti-Semitism and extremism for years.” They have developed materials and held training sessions on this.

The state of Berlin identified the problem some time ago and is working on solutions for the training of teachers. Deidre Berger, the director of the American Jewish Committee, says the survey showed that those were “not isolated cases anymore”. At the same time she warns of another, “new stigmatization” of youths, and advocates a dialogue in the classroom over the Middle East conflict, Israel and Jews. But one finding of the survey is that many teachers avoid these at times unpleasant discussions.

Religious pressure on girls growing

More than half of the interviewed teachers described in interviews that pressure was brought to bear particularly on girls to conform to a certain religious image. But also other groups of pupils suffered from this development. Michael Rump-Räuber remembers teachers who report that homosexuality was seen as an illness and was not to be tolerated.

The depictions are based on authentic statements by teachers from schools in Berlin. They are unique at this point and show that a comprehensive scientific study on this topic would be necessary. The teachers often feel helpless. According to the survey, teachers would hope for more support, and strategies to cope with this phenomenon in daily school life.

Video transcript: