By Sarah Cohen Fantl
Journalist Sarah Cohen-Fantl, born and raised in Germany, only moved from Tel Aviv to Berlin in February 2022 with her Israeli husband and two children. For BZ she wrote down why she no longer believes in a future in Germany since October 7th.
The Israeli was planning her future in Germany with her family. But since Hamas’ terrorist attack on Israel, which also brought hatred of Jews in Germany onto the streets of Berlin, she and her Jewish friends no longer feel safe.
Physically we are in Germany, mentally in Israel, our everyday lives are frozen. We constantly watch Israeli news, see the missile warning app flashing on our cell phones, and talk to our friends and families in Israel several times a day. We mourn the victims killed by Hamas terrorists, a trauma that will stay with us forever.
Hamas terrorists fire their rockets at Israel almost continuously
Photo: Mohammed Dahman/dpa
And we mourn our old lives, which will never be the same again. The long-awaited move within Berlin to our new home: cancelled. The restaurant we were about to rent: cancelled. Our future in Germany: uncertain.
Our everyday life in Germany is also determined by hatred of Jews. We used to hear snatches of Hebrew on the street in lively Kreuzberg every day – today we bite our tongues and hold our breath when our small children speak Hebrew, which is why we no longer go for walks in our neighborhood.
When something slips out in Hebrew, a man stops – and answers! He is also from Israel, with a wife and a small child, and asks my husband if they can exchange numbers: “We live on Sonnenallee and are afraid. It’s good to know that in an emergency we have Israelis nearby who can help us.”
Hatred of Jews is openly shown at pro-Palestine demos in Berlin Photo: Michael Körner
And further: “I’ve always been left-wing, but I just want to go back to Israel – it feels as if we Jews in Germany, Europe and the rest of the world have been cleared to be shot down again.”
After the massacre of residents of Kibbutz Kfar Azza (Israel), soldiers recover the bodies
Photo: picture alliance / ASSOCIATED PRESS | Ohad Zwigenberg
Our children have only been in kindergarten for half a day since the terrorist attack in southern Israel. This Friday, all daycare and school children had to be picked up early because an anti-Israel demonstration was taking place nearby and safety for Jewish people could not be guaranteed.
Where are we safe anymore?
Even at a Jewish children’s birthday party in a popular café, the parents privately hire a security man – that’s how great the fear is. This also becomes clear in conversations between the parents: Where should we go? Where are we safe anymore? A day later, a synagogue in Berlin-Mitte was pelted with Molotov cocktails.
THIS is the reality of Jews in Germany in 2023.
We have suspended our Israeli and kosher catering indefinitely and canceled all events because our cuisine is in focus. My husband, who is living outside Israel for the first time and is part of a minority instead of a majority society for the first time, does not want to stay in Germany. We mourn for a life that we were looking forward to, but the harsh reality shows that we cannot build a future in Germany and Europe as recognizable Jews and Israelis – our greatest concern is our children.
The fears, the pain, the respect and helplessness that we know from our grandparents, who had to experience the Shoah, catch up with us in the here and now. What is life worth in a country where you always have to be on guard? In which Jews have Stars of David smeared on the walls of their houses within a few days and Molotov cocktails are thrown at them?
In which perpetrator-victim reversal is carried out and Hamas terrorists are celebrated with cookies on the street? In which overprivileged organic Germans who have never been to the Middle East want to pass on the “German guilt” of their grandparents at the expense of the Jewish population?
If we have learned one thing from history, that we never want to hide and be victims again!
We packed a suitcase with the most important documents, we talked to friends and relatives about how and where we could flee quickly if the situation here and in Israel continued to worsen. We are Jews in Germany in 2023, but it is very reminiscent of 1938 – and everyone is watching as “Never again” repeats itself.