As many German Jews commemorated the start of Passover on Monday evening, a number of seats were intentionally left vacant at their Seder tables paying tribute to Israeli detainees still in Hamas’ possession. The aggressive actions by Hamas on Israel on 7th October, in addition to the Israeli reaction, have intensified global tensions, particularly for Germany, a country indelibly marked by the Holocaust.
The escalation of these events on the 7th October has further stirred tensions within Germany’s multifaceted Jewish communities, at a time when impassioned debates around anti-Semitism and freedom of speech are already prevalent. The Jewish population in Germany, estimated to be between 118,000 and 250,000, is a far cry from the pre-war total of approximately 500,000, yet it remains the fourth largest in Western Europe and the eighth largest worldwide.
Similar to Jewish populations elsewhere, Germany’s Jews represent a broad spectrum ranging from liberal-secular to progressive, conservative religious, and orthodox. The Central Committee of Jews in Germany (ZdJ), established by survivors in 1950, is considered the main representative voice for Jews in Germany by the Berlin federal government. In 2003, the ZdJ secured a state treaty guaranteeing €3 million in annual federal funding to “preserve and maintain German-Jewish cultural heritage,” a sum which has expanded over the years and reached €22 million last year.
However, not all Jewish communities in Germany support this arrangement. Critics argue that the ZdJ has amassed too much power and houses high ambitions. Many believe it maintains an unhealthy alignment with Israel and its increasingly extremist governments, manipulating historical events for current political gains.
Moreover, allegations have been made by other Jewish organisations against the ZdJ, citing misuse of their central funding role to exert pressure on various groups and communities, sometimes intruding into faith-based issues. Irith Michelsohn, the general secretary of the Union of Progressive Jews (UPJ) in Germany, believes that the central committee has enhanced its monopoly status yearly. Founded in 1997, the UPJ was established to speak for progressive congregations and communities in the German-speaking world, advocating for a balanced representation of Jewish tradition and modern values.
The Union of Progressive Jews (UPJ) in Germany credits philosopher Moses Mendelssohn and Rabbi Abraham Geiger, founders of contemporary Jewish thought, as guiding examples in their campaigns for women’s leadership roles. Despite the significant German Jewish heritage, local politicians seem uninterested in supporting it, notes Michelsohn.
For many years, the UPJ has sought unsuccessfully to engage Germany’s federal interior ministry to revise the 2003 state treaty, allowing more than one Jewish organisation to receive direct funding. The UPJ, with a membership of 4,000 across 19 congregations, has now lodged a complaint with the constitutional court, asking for 4 to 19 per cent of the yearly federal funding, rather than the current less than 1 per cent. Contrastingly, the Central Council of Jews (ZdJ) holds 94,000 members in 104 affiliated congregations.
While the interior ministry refrained from commenting, numerous Bundestag parliament members show interest in this development. Further, the ZdJ’s claim to represent all Jews in Germany, particularly amidst the recent uptick in anti-Semitism, is not universally agreed upon. Some factions within the Jewish community challenge their narrative, with experts calling for caution against frequent alarmism.
Simultaneously, Michelsohn reveals concerns within her community prompted by developments in both Israel, where her daughter and grandchildren live, and Ukraine, which has many former Soviet Union diasporas from the early 1990s. However, she also notes that her community in Bielefeld, in western Germany, has so far been spared any anti-Jewish attacks.
Michelsohn emphasises that Jewish communities in Germany are modern and vibrant, and cautions that an atmosphere of fear may be counterproductive. She insists that contemporary Jews cannot be likened to those from 1933 and that combating anti-Semitism is a task for the entire German society to undertake, rather than just the Jewish community.