The number of antisemitic crimes fell in North Rhine-Westphalia in 2020. This emerges from the annual report published on Wednesday by the state’s antisemitism commissioner, Sabine Leutheusser-Schnarrenberger. According to preliminary figures, the authorities registered 276 antisemitic crimes in 2020. These are 39 cases fewer than in the previous year. The vast majority of the acts – 254 – were committed by people from the right-wing extremist spectrum.
Leutheusser-Schnarrenberger emphasized in the report that the decline is no reason to give the all-clear. “The tense mood in the state is also clearly noticeable in North Rhine-Westphalia.” Open, aggressive antisemitism is no longer uncommon.
In her report for 2020, Leutheusser-Schnarrenberger expresses great concern that the corona pandemic has created a breeding ground for simple explanatory models and conspiracy myths. Self-proclaimed conspiracy theorists appeared at “lateral thinkers” demonstrations and in social networks and spread the age-old myth of a Jewish world conspiracy. Radical opponents of vaccination cynically occupied symbols of the Shoah, for example by wearing the yellow Star of David with inscriptions such as “Covid-19” or “unvaccinated”. “It will take a lot of energy to push back this irrationality combined with aggression and hatred,” said Leutheusser-Schnarrenberger.
Source: sueddeutsche
