Almost a year after Hamas’ terrorist attack on Israel, the victims were remembered at a large memorial march in Düsseldorf on Sunday. Around 1,200 people were killed and more than 200 were taken hostage in the Gaza Strip; around 100 people are still in captivity there.
According to police, around 1,000 people took part in the memorial march, which started in the afternoon at Graf-Adolf-Platz. The process was completely trouble-free and peaceful. The participants, who largely refrained from chanting, held Israeli flags and banners with the words “Bring them home now” or pictures of the hostages. Participants with Iranian flags also took part in the march.
After the terrorist attack by Hamas, a state of war was declared in Israel; Since then, the country has been taking military action in the Gaza Strip. Since then there have been a number of pro-Palestine demonstrations in Düsseldorf; Jewish people complain about a new wave of anti-Semitism. The memorial march was also directed against this.
Although the occasion is so sad, it is good that so many people were there and showed that they do not care about Jewish life in Düsseldorf as well as in Israel, said the managing director of the Jewish Community in Düsseldorf, Bert Römgens, at the final rally at Johannes-Rau-Platz. “Although almost a year has passed, it is still October 7th for us,” he emphasized. “Time stood still when so many families were destroyed in one day.”
There is still fear for the lives of the hostages, who are still in the hands of their kidnappers and whose fate is unclear. “We hope and ask: Bring them home now.” Alon Dorn, board member of the Jewish community, criticized the fact that old anti-Semitic conspiracy theories still exist in 2024 and that hatred of Jews has reached new dimensions since October 7th.
The city’s head of culture, Miriam Koch, said she was shocked at how thin the crust against anti-Semitism actually was. Anti-Semitism in our society is not only directed against Jews: “We are all affected by what happened. In the end it will affect our liberal democracy.”
The deputy prime minister of North Rhine-Westphalia, Mona Neubaur (Greens), also said that this demonstration was about “upholding the values of our democracy”. The suffering caused by the current hostilities in the Middle East can be attributed to those who caused October 7th: “And that is the terrorist Hamas.” This connection must be made clear again and again, said Neubaur to the applause of the participants.
The march was organized by the Jewish Community of Düsseldorf together with the “Run for their lives” initiative, the Jewish Student Association of North Rhine-Westphalia, the Society for Christian-Jewish Cooperation in Düsseldorf, the German-Israeli Society in Düsseldorf and Kehila NRW.
Demos also in Munich, Hamburg and Berlin
On the occasion of the anniversary of the Hamas attack, numerous people came together in the Bavarian capital for the “365 Days – Munich against Anti-Semitism” commemoration event. Many waved Israeli flags or small flags with the organizers’ logo, a red Star of David with the Munich silhouette, which is intended to symbolize the unity of Munich’s urban society in the common fight against hatred, discrimination and anti-Semitism.
There had already been a large pro-Palestinian demonstration in Düsseldorf on Saturday. Around 1,000 participants gathered near the main train station and from there marched through the city center to Schadowplatz. According to police reports, around 1,800 people took part in a pro-Palestinian rally in Berlin. About 650 people came to a pro-Israel demonstration. The events were “mostly trouble-free,” said a police spokesman. Hundreds of people also protested against the Gaza war in Hamburg on Saturday.
Tumults at pro-Palestine demo in Berlin
At a pro-Palestinian demonstration in Berlin-Kreuzberg, however, there was turmoil with stones and bottles being thrown at police officers. Demonstrators tried to break through a police line and firecrackers were set off. Several people were arrested, a police spokeswoman said. “Due to the lack of peace, the meeting was canceled,” she explained.
The demonstrators were informed by the police over loudspeakers: “Public safety is at risk.” The reason given for this was crimes committed within the gathering.
According to police, around 3,500 people took part in the protest march entitled “Demo against genocide in Gaza”. 1000 participants were announced. They walked from Kottbusser Tor to Lenaustraße on the border with Neukölln. The route was originally planned to reach the Arabic-influenced Sonnenallee in Neukölln. Around 500 people gathered at a pro-Israel demonstration at the Brandenburg Gate.
There will be further rallies and events on Monday – for example in Frankfurt am Main, where the administrative court there initially lifted a ban on pro-Palestinian demonstrations issued by the city.
In Berlin, Federal President Frank-Walter Steinmeier speaks on Monday afternoon after an interreligious service in the Kaiser Wilhelm Memorial Church and takes part in the Jewish community’s central memorial event. Scholz will be a guest at the memorial ceremony of the Jewish community in Hamburg in the evening.
Scholz: “We will never accept blind hatred of Israel”
On the occasion of the anniversary, Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD) condemned “anti-Semitism and blind hatred of Israel”. He called for solidarity with Jews in this country. The Central Council of Jews denounced calls for open Israel-hate protests as a “new low of humanity in our society.”
Scholz said in his video podcast published on Sunday, The Gaza war triggered by the Hamas attack is also causing many people in Germany great concern. “In our free society, you can always fight for the best path and argue as democrats.” But it should never be “that citizens of the Jewish faith have to live in fear and terror here in Germany.”
“The Jews here in Germany deserve the full solidarity of our state – and the solidarity of all decent people in this country,” Scholz continued. With the “hideous” attack on Israel, Hamas had also triggered a catastrophe for the Palestinian people, the Chancellor added.
Given the extent of suffering and destruction, the federal government “continues to persistently advocate for a ceasefire.” The Chancellor warned that the ceasefire must “finally come about now” – so that the civilian population in the Gaza Strip can be better protected and also provided with better care. “And so that the Israeli hostages can finally be released!”
Anyone who, in view of the anniversary of the cruel attack, is not able to “feel at least a little empathy for Jews, for the people of Israel, will never do so – and they have a huge problem,” said the President of the Central Council of the Jews, Josef Schuster, the newspapers of the Germany editorial network. “If we in Germany don’t clearly recognize and name that these people exist among us, then we all have a huge problem.”
