In Berlin, a show of solidarity does little to dampen Jewish fears

THE NEW YORK TIMES
By Melissa Eddy
Hundreds of Jews and non-Jews wore skullcaps during a demonstration against anti-Semitism in Berlin on Wednesday. CreditMarkus Schreiber/Associated Press
BERLIN — After an attack on a young man wearing a kipa in a trendy Berlin neighborhood, the leader of Germany’s largest Jewish organization urged Jews to wear baseball caps instead. It was just too dangerous, he said, to walk around openly with a kipa or skullcap, a sign of devotion. In a country that has spent 70 years fighting the legacy of the Holocaust, the backlash was swift: We are all kipa wearers. Berliners, including the mayor, and other Jewish groups participated in demonstrations on Wednesday in which people of all faiths donned skullcaps in solidarity. “Today the kipa is a symbol of the Berlin that we would like to have,” Mayor Michael Müller told a crowd of hundreds of people outside the Jewish community center in western Berlin. [More]
A demonstration against anti-Semitism in Berlin is urging participants to wear a kippah on Wednesday in response to an attack on an Israeli man wearing the traditional Jewish skullcap.
Participants in a rally against anti-Semitism gathered near a Jewish community center in Berlin Wednesday. Image courtesy of The Boston Globe
Iman Jamous wears the kippah during a demonstration against antisemitism in Erfurt, Germany AP
A man wears a kippa during a demonstration in front of a Jewish synagogue, to denounce an anti-Semitic attack on a young man wearing a kippa in the capital earlier this month, in Berlin, Germany, April 25, 2018. REUTERS/Fabrizio Bensch
20-year-old Maximilian Norrmann spent last year meeting Holocaust survivors in Jerusalem. Although he’s not Jewish, he wore a kippa today to show support with the Jewish community against anti-Semitic violence. #BerlinträgtKippa
After recent anti-Semitic violence in Berlin, large daily @Tagesspiegel prints a cutout do-it-yourself #Kippa. Asks Berliners to wear it today in sign of solidarity. #NeverForget #berlinträgtkippa