AL JAZEERA
A man walks past a shop window decorated with a sticker simulating broken glass at a department store in Berlin on Nov. 8, 2013, ahead of the 75th anniversary of the Kristallnacht anti-Jewish pogrom of that launched on Nov. 9, 1938. PHOTO/John MacDougallJ/AFP/Getty Images/Al Jazeera
A first of its kind comprehensive survey (PDF) on anti-Semitic trends in Europe found that more than three-quarters of Jewish respondents say they believe that anti-Semitism is on the rise in their home countries, with nearly a third saying that they have “seriously considered emigrating” because they do not feel safe.
The report, released Friday by the European Union’s Agency for Fundamental Rights, was timed to coincide with the 75th anniversary of the Kristallnacht pogroms in Nazi Germany. Kristallnacht, also known as the “Night of Broken Glass,” refers to the outbreak of violent anti-Jewish pogroms that launched throughout Nazi Germany and parts of Austria on Nov. 9, 1938.
Kristallnacht owes its name to the shards of broken glass that littered the streets in the wake of violent attacks against Jewish homes, businesses and synagogues.
The Agency for Fundamental Rights surveyed 5,847 self-identified Jews in eight Western European countries — Belgium, France, Germany, Hungary, Italy, Latvia, Sweden and the United Kingdom.
It said its findings aim to provide guidance for policymakers and law enforcement on measures to take against anti-Semitism.
The survey, conducted online during September and October 2012, examined respondents’ opinions about anti-Semitic trends, their personal encounters with anti-Semitism and concerns that they or their loved ones could become a victim of an anti-Semitic attack.
The impact of anti-Semitism on respondents’ daily behavior and their feelings of safety were also examined.
Two thirds of all respondents consider anti-Semitism to be a problem across the eight countries surveyed, while 76 percent of the respondents say they believe that anti-Semitism has increased in their home countries over the past five years.
Twenty-nine percent of those surveyed said that they had considered emigrating because of concerns about safety, with particularly high figures recorded in Hungary (48 percent), France (46 percent) and Belgium (40 percent).
One British respondent said, “I feel worried about anti-Semitism now in a way that I did not 30 years ago. Something that should have disappeared from social acceptability is instead becoming stronger.”
When asked how respondents define anti-Semitism, 34 percent indicated that their definition of an anti-Semite applied to “a non-Jewish person if he or she criticizes Israel.” An estimated 90 percent said that people who did not consider Jewish citizens of their country as compatriots were anti-Semitic.
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