21 March 2007
Berlin's police authorities have launched an investigation into reports of anti-Semitism at a police academy in the German capital. "If these accusations prove correct, there will be consequences," warned police commissioner Dieter Glietsch, who was said to be angry that he had not been informed of the recent events at the Berlin police training school. There have been a number of reports of latent anti-Semitism among police trainees. In late February, officers apparently responded to a compulsory class on the Third Reich by saying that they were bored of being constantly reminded of the Holocaust and that Jews were known to be wealthy. Classes on xenophobia and Germany's Nazi past are part of the school's curriculum and trainees are obliged to attend the lectures. These regularly feature accounts of eyewitnesses and survivors.
Holocaust survivor Isaak Behar, who has been giving talks at schools for many years, told the 'Berliner Zeitung' newspaper that the alleged anti-Semitic comments his talk in February elicited were not the first he had heard. But he added: "I am satisfied with the way the school's teachers and director responded, and in particular by the police president's reaction." Berlin rabbi Andreas Nachama told the same newspaper that the incident was symptomatic of a wider trend in German society. "A rise in anti-Semitism is apparent everywhere," he said. "This is both regrettable and disturbing." However, official statistics show that anti-Semitic offenses have fallen in recent years, with the figure dropping from 326 incidents in 2005 to 274 in 2006.
Meanwhile, the Jewish publicist Michel Friedman has accused the state governor of Hessen, Roland Koch, of not saying anything about a recent scandal involving Friedman's former bodyguards, who were discovered wearing Nazi uniforms and having Nazi music on their computers. The security men are members of Frankfurt's police force and currently under investigation. Friedman criticized the silence of the conservative government of Koch, which is in charge of Frankfurt's police. Koch refused to comment, saying "Not every issue on which Mr. Friedman chooses to comment requires a reaction by the governor."
