Monday 9 March 2020

Another Testimony About Israeli Experiences in Germany

The experiences of Shahak Shapira as a Jew/Israeli in Germany adds another testimony to the hardships and challenges of Jewish life in this country. As he landed in Laucha, in Saxony a province whose far-right sympathies are finally acknowledged on a wider scale, together with his younger brother and his mother, he only had the experience of the settlement of Oranit where he grew up.
However, through his family stories he was relatively aware of what to expect: his grandfather on his father side, Amitzur Shapira, was a victim of the terrorism attack during the 1972 Olympic Games in Munich. 
With a tone full of humour and sarcasm, Shapira accounts about his encounters with the 'brown' guys. Encounters not always innocents, as his brother will get to the court against one of them. Shahak himself is attacked by antisemites in Berlin this time on 2015 New Years' Eve. 
Unfortunately this is a reality for way too long: antisemitism in schools, extreme right as a reality of the everyday life in some parts of Germany, attacks against Jews. If the situation as such cannot be changed ovenight, at least documenting it will offer a proof that not everyone stayed idle and did nothing at all.

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