German Jewish Student Leader Warns ‘Anti-Semitism Will Be Structural’ if AfD Expands Power
Members of the German Union of Jewish Students received threats on social media after they blocked far-right AfD politician Thomas Tillschneider from entering a synagogue on October 9
Kristina Jovanovski / The Media Line
Jewish students in Germany say they are facing death threats after blocking a far-right politician from entering a synagogue in an eastern state where his party placed first in an election last month.
Comments on the Instagram page of the German Union of Jewish Students (JSUD) began after a confrontation with Alternative for Germany (AfD) politician Hans-Thomas Tillschneider, who became vice president of the state parliament following an election in Saxony-Anhalt.
“The AfD is a real threat to German democracy. Actually, we have started to say the AfD, the right-wing extremists, is the biggest threat produced in Germany right now,” Naomi Tamir, a board member of the JSUD, told The Media Line.
On October 9, Tillschneider tried to enter the synagogue, which was holding a memorial service to mark seven years since a far-right gunman tried to enter it on Yom Kippur during morning prayer service. He failed to force his way into the building, but went on to kill two people, one a passerby and the other at a kebab shop.
In a post by the student union showing a video of Tillschneider talking to the students, an anonymous private account posted dozens of vomiting emojis along with blue hearts. The AfD’s main color is blue.
Another account states that a similar post about the confrontation is “manipulation.”
Tamir said students blocking Tillschneider were asked to allow him through, and they refused. Then, Tamir said, the politician asked German authorities to remove the students, but they decided not to.
“I’m very happy that they made [this decision], but the question is: Will this happen every time?” she asked.
“Will the police react the same way, or will they listen to [or] follow the commands that are given to them, because a person of authority is speaking? I do think that that’s the bigger concern,” Tamir added.
Tillschneider did not respond to The Media Line’s request for comment.
In a proposal for governing Saxony-Anhalt, Tillschneider said schools should teach “less Hitler.” He also described Germany’s decades-long efforts to remember and acknowledge the Holocaust as a “guilt cult.”
Germany’s public broadcaster reported that people were being investigated for calling Tillschneider a “Nazi” when he was blocked from entering the synagogue. In Germany, calling someone a Nazi could be deemed slander or verbal abuse.
Police in Saxony-Anhalt told The Media Line they were investigating a suspected criminal insult in the city on the day Tillschneider was blocked and referred the case to Halle’s public prosecutor.
The prosecutor’s office has since told Media Line that it dropped the investigation.
In 2019, a court ruled that protesters could legally call one of the AfD’s highest-profile politicians a fascist.
The confrontation with Jewish students in Halle came after a September state election in Saxony-Anhalt, which gave the AfD a strong chance to lead a government by securing first place.
However, the party did not get enough seats to form a government on its own, so its chances of leading the government hinge on elected members from other parties forming a coalition or crossing over to the party.
If it can form a government, the AfD would be the first far-right party to do so at the state level since World War Two.
A political shock followed last month when a member of the AfD was elected speaker of the state parliament with help from members of other parties.
Tamir said threats connected to the AfD used to come from online trolls, but now the AfD holds power, and she hopes the students’ actions encourage others to “take democracy into their own hands and be loud about it.”
She added that Jewish people in the state are afraid for their future with the AfD, especially since the party could decrease state-supported security for synagogues if it leads the government.
“The antisemitism will be structural now if AfD gets into more and more places; it will be devastating for the Jewish community,” Tamir said.
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