Increasing awareness of Antisemitism and Fascism in Europe

27 October, 2013

On 9 November each year European organisations raise awareness about and act against fascism and antisemitism. They do this to commemorate the past and to protest against contemporary forms of fascism and antisemitism. We invite all users of the Hate Speech Watch to report online hate speech related to antisemitism or fascism in November and to collect relevant material and hate speech examples in order to raise awareness and educate about the serious problem of the increasing antisemitism in Europe.Shocking facts about the increase of antisemitisim: A recent survey in nine different European countries almost a quarter of Jewish respondents said they avoid visiting places and wearing symbols that identify them as Jews for fear of antisemitism.

Almost a quarter of respondents in a major survey of Jews from nine European countries said they avoid visiting places and wearing symbols that identify them as Jews for fear of anti-Semitism. Fear of wearing a kippah and other identifiably Jewish items was especially strong in Sweden, where 49 percent of 800 respondents said they refrained from such actions. This survey was conducted this year among more than 5,100 Jews by the European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights. In France, 40 percent of approximately 1,200 Jews said they avoided wearing such items in public, followed by Belgium with 36 percent, according to preliminary results from the survey. In total, 22 percent of respondents said they avoided “Jewish events or sites” because of safety concerns. The results show that a majority of European Jews are experiencing a rise in antisemitism.The survey, which began 3 September 2012 and closed last month, was conducted online in France, Britain, Belgium, Germany, Sweden, Italy, Hungary,Romania and Latvia. In Hungary, 91 percent of more than 500 respondents said anti-Semitism has increased in the past five years. That figure was 88 percent in France; 87 percent in Belgium and 80 percent in Sweden. In Germany, Italy and Britain, some 60 percent of respondents identified a growth in anti-Semitism, compared to 39 percent in Latvia. Figures for people who said they had experienced an anti-Semitic incident in the 12 previous months were 30 percent for Hungary; 21 percent for France and 16 percent in Germany. More than 75 percent of respondents said they do not report anti-Semitic harassment to police and 64 percent said they do not report physical assaults, with 67 percent saying that reporting incidents was either “not worth the effort” or otherwise ineffectual.Why the 9th November? After the Nazis came to power in Germany in 1933, Jews were subjected to increasingly discriminatory treatment accompanied by organised violence. On November 9th 1938, the Nazis started a pogrom against the Jews. Synagogues were set on fire. Jewish shops had their windows smashed across the country, which gave rise to the name "Kristallnacht", which freely translated means the Night of Broken Glass. Many Jews were physically attacked too. The "Kristallnacht" pogrom is usually seen as the symbolic beginning of the Holocaust. For further details of the Day you can visit the official website of the event. 

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