“You Jew” is an insult often heard in schoolyards. A Jewish sixth grader had to hear from a classmate in North Rhine-Westphalia: »It’s a shame that the Nazis are no longer there. Otherwise you’d be gassed long ago. ”The teacher present showed no reaction. At the end of an interreligious conversation, a Jewish pupil was asked the question recently in a Bavarian elementary school: “But let’s be honest: When do you drink the blood of the Christian children?”
Anti-Semitism and anti-Jewish insults in all their manifestations can be found in everyday school life 76 years after the Shoah. Many educators react helplessly or look and listen out of “uncertainty, lack of time or fear of escalation” rather than taking decisive action against it. “In times when ‘You Jude’ is used as a swear word in German schoolyards, it is more necessary than ever to make it clear that anti-Semitism has no place in our society,” emphasizes the Federal Government Commissioner for Jewish Life in Germany and the Fight against anti-Semitism, Felix Klein.
DECISION The responsible education ministers of the federal states intend to take decisive action in schools against anti-Semitism in the schoolyard and in lessons. The Conference of Ministers of Education and Cultural Affairs (KMK) decided unanimously last Thursday. “Anti-Semitism will not be tolerated and must not remain without consequences,” said the current KMK President and Brandenburg Education Minister Britta Ernst after the conference.
The responsible education ministers of the federal states intend to take decisive action in schools against anti-Semitism in the schoolyard and in lessons.
At the virtual meeting, the ministers of the 16 federal states accepted a joint recommendation of the Central Council of Jews in Germany, the federal-state commission of anti-Semitism commissioners and the conference of ministers of education on how to deal with anti-Semitism in schools.
The joint 15-page recommendation is aimed primarily at teachers and educational staff of all types of schools, school levels and subjects, school administrators, institutions for basic, advanced and advanced training for teachers as well as the responsible state institutions. The KMK, the Central Council and the anti-Semitism commissioner will work together to ensure that “anti-Semitic incidents in the school environment are identified, clarified and combated as such” and “current Jewish life in schools is addressed and encounters with Jews are made possible”.
ARMOR EQUIPMENT Although the teaching staff in Germany are excellently trained in pedagogy, said the President of the Central Council of Jews in Germany, Josef Schuster, there is a lack of training to recognize anti-Semitism and the teaching of the necessary pedagogical tools during studies to appropriately respond react.
The wrong means, Schuster emphasized, was to cover up or keep silent about such incidents “out of shame” or “concern for the good reputation of the school”. “If ‘You Jude’ is used as a swear word in the schoolyard, then I expect, then we expect teachers to react appropriately, but that they are also given adequate tools beforehand during their studies to be able to react.
Everyone should be able to recognize, name and react to anti-Semitism.
»False tolerance or even understanding of anti-Semitism are dangerous. This normalizes anti-Semitism, ”the joint recommendation says. »If the teacher did not intervene, the pupils or colleagues could also see it as acceptance or confirmation. It must therefore always be made clear that anti-Semitism will not be tolerated in any of its manifestations. “
PARENTS KMK President Britta Ernst believes that with the decision that has been made, »all school actors, regardless of whether they are teachers, educators, parents or schoolchildren, but also institutions for training and professionalising teachers, educational administrations and politics, are called upon to act. Dealing with it therefore remains a social and political challenge for all of us. With this recommendation we would like to make our contribution «.
In the future, the recommendation will provide guidance on how to deal with the various forms of anti-Semitism, describe its effects and point out measures for prevention and intervention. Each and every individual is challenged to recognize anti-Semitism, to name it and to react to it accordingly. Children and young people need a value system that gives them orientation. The school is also responsible for conveying this.
Jewish life before 1933 and its contributions to social development at that time, as well as Judaism in Germany after 1945, are still “without any school relevance.”
When presenting the joint declaration, Josef Schuster basically praised today’s history lessons in schools, in which the Holocaust is discussed. But an overview shows that in schools Jews are largely only perceived as victims of the Shoah. Jewish life before 1933 and its contributions to social development at that time, as well as Judaism in Germany after 1945, are still “without any school relevance.”
It is important to convey that Jewish life in Germany is much older and that Jews, regardless of their religious ideas, had a very significant influence on cultural and scientific development.
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