Study on anti-Semitism: “A new anti-Semitic normal”

For three years, researchers Marina Chernivsky and Friedrike Lorenz-Sinai repeatedly conducted interviews with Jews in Germany. The result is a study that was published on Monday - and which illuminates more deeply and precisely than any other to date what Jews in Germany have been experiencing since October 7, 2023.

The central finding is that of a “new anti-Semitic normality” in which many of those surveyed see themselves. The images of Hamas terror, the fate of relatives and acquaintances in Israel, but also the cold-hearted reaction of the non-Jewish public caused a psychological break in many of those interviewed. They report broken trust, lost friendships, subtle exclusion and openly anti-Semitic discrimination. Many of those interviewed reacted to this with social withdrawal, but in some cases also with a move closer together within the Jewish communities, which offered support and security.

The study benefits from the interdisciplinary focus of the authors: Chernivsky is a psychologist and heads the competence center for education and research critical of anti-Semitism in Berlin. Lorenz-Sinai is a sociology professor at the Institute for Right-Wing Extremism Research at the University of Tübingen. They say: “The experience of a passive as well as invasive environment leads to the reorganization of affiliations and security beliefs.” It restricts “social participation”.

For the research project, the researchers also spoke specifically to Jewish children and their parents. With depressing results: Jewish children increasingly have to hide their identity in order to avoid bullying and discrimination. Parents are forced to constantly weigh up safety risks. The result is “a kind of Jewish invisibility.”

The study was funded by the Federal Anti-Discrimination Agency. Its director, Ferda Ataman, spoke on Monday of the “existential consequences” of anti-Semitism. These ranged from “disadvantages when looking for an apartment and job, to refusal to serve in a restaurant, to bullying in daycare and in the classroom.” Protection against discrimination must be improved, including through changes to the General Equal Treatment Act, which currently has numerous gaps.