European Jewish Congress executive meeting in Berlin

The European Jewish Congress (EJC) has held an executive meeting in Berlin. At a press conference, Charlotte Knobloch, member of the EJC presidium and deputy leader of the Central Council of Jews in Germany, asked that governments all over Europe rise to the challenge of anti-Semitism and make it clear that this problem was of concern to the general public, not just to Jews. Knobloch also warned of a notable increase of anti-Semitism in the central and eastern European countries. In Poland and the Baltic states, Jewish property was being confiscated and synagogues were being torn down. Referring to a planned alliance of extremist right-wing parties in Germany, Knobloch said that this development represented a danger for democracy and must not be ignored.