Jewish students about anti-Semitism: Kippa wear? Only with a baseball cap over it

The Jewish education center Chabad in Berlin is surrounded by a high fence. If you want to enter, you have to pass through a security entrance, always guarded by the police and a private security service.

Such protective measures are standard in front of Jewish institutions in Germany. And it is not foreseeable that this will change in the near future: The number of anti-Semitic incidents is increasing - in Berlin, throughout Germany and also worldwide. Only on Tuesday, the crime statistics confirmed this again.

Pupils from the Jewish traditional school Or Avner in Berlin have told former German President Joachim Gauck about their everyday life. Here they tell how they deal with the topic of anti-Semitism and why they go to a Jewish school.

"We not only learn the Torah here, but also math and German"

The 17-year-old goes to the 11th grade of the Jewish traditional school JTS in Berlin. She does not want to read her name in public. She herself had not yet experienced anti-Semitism, but her sister had happened in the classroom.

Children at "normal" schools would find it harder, she says. "Our school was founded so that we are protected." Since she and her classmates are in this protected space from 8 am to 4 pm, they would not be so often attacked in everyday life.

Tema , 16, is also in the 11th grade. She explains that her school is quite officially recognized by the state: "We not only learn the Torah, but also subjects such as math and German, which is a good balance between secular and religious subjects." At her school, she is able to practice her religion. "We can live out our identity."

Since the school is traditionally oriented, for example, the orthodox book Tanja is taught. Her class is very diverse and criticism and questions are always possible.

One teacher adds: Some students, for example, would not notice when the World Cup was in progress, while others missed important Jewish holidays.

David , 14, is in the 8th grade of the JTS. He has been dealing with anti-Semitism ever since he and classmates published a student newspaper on the topic. "Anti-Semitism is a social problem," says David.

In his everyday life, he once experienced anti-Semitism: "Together with a friend, I tried out what happens when we go out with our kippa in April." We tested that on the Kudamm and we looked at it weirdly there were too many people for that, nothing happened to us. " He usually wears a baseball cap over his kippa.

Moshe , 13, is in grade 8 and has also joined the student newspaper on anti-Semitism. "I learned while researching that many incidents are not reported, because people think that it does not help to complain anyway, we have to learn not to accept that and do something about it."

Channa , 16, is 11th grader. "We do not hide that we are Jewish, we are proud of it, my father is a rabbi, with him this is quite obvious: long beard, black clothes.

I have been approached several times. But I know how to handle it: I do not answer and go on. However, I make sure that I do not make myself extra target. For example, I do not wear a bag of Hebrew characters in public. "

Channa hopes schools will learn more about the Holocaust: "We learn and live that. Many of us have ancestors who have experienced the Holocaust, but many people deny what happened."

Elisha , 10, is in the 5th grade of the Jewish Traditional School in Berlin. "I do not understand why some people hate Jews so much that they are beaten and insulted, and we need a solution quickly."

Heike Michalak has been running the school since 2005, even though she is a Christian herself. That was no problem for the school. "We share the moral and ethical demands of education," she says.

It is important to her to show herself in public with her students. "We're here, in the zoo, on a school trip, in the subway." She encourages parents to let their children use public transport as normal. But there are still worries. "Hopefully this will be better with the next generation."

However, she is "afraid of the stupidity of the people," says Heike Michalak. Therefore she advised the boy to hide her Kippa under a baseball cap.

Rabbi Yehuda Teichtal is chairman of the Jewish Education Center Chabad in Berlin, to which the school belongs. "We are here to stay," he says. "This is also our Berlin, we are a part of society."

Although he is a devout believer, he emphasizes: "I am orthodox, but open." Non-Jews are always invited to events of his community. Anti-Semitism is best combated by reducing fear of contact.

Former Federal President Joachim Gauck visited the students on Wednesday. At the request of the rabbi to give them a message, he said: "You give me a message: 'We are not sitting here on packed suitcases, we want to stay here, we accept this country as our country'.

And my message to you is: I will always belong to the people who make sure that the different people in Germany live together peacefully. And so I will always fight anti-Semitism. "