The DFL and the Jewish organizations, the Jewish World Congress (WJC) and the Central Council of Jews in Germany kicked things off with a specialist conference on Wednesday (March 30, 2022) in Dortmund.
Lectures and workshops were held under the title “Anti-Semitism and Professional Football: Challenges, Opportunities, Network”. “We are much more than just a football club. We have to and want to take on social responsibility, especially off the pitch. Because anti-Semitism was and is more than ever a danger here and now.”said BVB managing director Carsten Cramer.
“Anti-Semitism is not an opinion”
Maram Stern, Vice-President of the World Jewish Congress, found particularly powerful words: “Anti-Semitism is not an opinion. I ask you to internalize this, it is an attack on human dignity”which the hall underlined with prolonged applause.
Football has a special power: “The close relationship between the clubs and the millions of football fans is a huge opportunity in the fight against anti-Semitism”he said and added to the club representatives: “In doing so, you and your clubs, followed by fans from all walks of life, are in a unique position to initiate the conversations and processes that we all need.”
Football – social force, but also breeding ground for anti-Semitism
This special role of football was also emphasized by experts from science and politics. Football in Germany, for example, has great social power, but its nature also offers favorable structures for anti-Semitism and resentment: the staged “us against you” or the emotional outbursts that are allowed and even desired in football.
The education and campaigns of the clubs in prevention are all the more important, but also the intervention and criminal prosecution of anti-Semitic motivated offenses.
“Police cars in front of synagogues are shameful”
According to preliminary figures given by the Parliamentary State Secretary in the Ministry of the Interior, Mahmut Özdemir (SPD), 3,028 anti-Semitic crimes were recorded in 2021. 63 of these were violent crimes. It is important to minimize and eliminate these acts:
“The fact that there is a police car in front of every synagogue in Germany, which is necessary, is shameful! We want to build a protective wall of society that nips anti-Semitism and right-wing extremism in the bud.” – also in the stadium.
“Growing threat to Jews in Germany”
“Anti-Semitism is still a growing threat to Jews in Germany”, summarized Ansgar Schwenken, member of the management of the German Football League. Therefore, the event can and must be an impetus “for everyone who is here to continue to engage with the issue of anti-Semitism.”
Source: red