Ukrainian refugees eat at a welcome center upon their arrival by train at Berlin’s Hauptbahnhof central station. Photo: Reuters/Fabrizio Bensch

Refugees from Russia’s invasion of Ukraine will be among the guests at 105 Passover seders that are being held around Germany on Friday night, the head of the German Jewish community confirmed on Thursday.

In an interview with the SWR radio network, Josef Schuster — president of the Central Council of German Jews — said that the community’s agencies had been working with local authorities to assist the fleeing Ukrainians with basic needs like food and shelter. “Whether you are Jewish or not Jewish isn’t an issue — this is about helping people,” Schuster stressed.

Among those Ukrainians celebrating Passover in Germany this year is Anastasia Gulej, a 96-year-old Holocaust survivor who was incarcerated in the Auschwitz, Buchenwald and Bergen-Belsen concentration camps. Last weekend, Gulej participated in the official ceremony marking the 77th anniversary of Buchenwald’s liberation, where Schuster told the assembled audience it was a “shame that survivors of the Shoah have to suffer like this at the end of their difficult lives.”

Schuster said that Gulej had expressed mixed feelings about her arrival in Germany. “On the one hand, the sadness of having to leave home, but also the joy and gratitude for how she was received and cared for here,” Schuster said.

Schuster said that Jewish refugees could apply for resident status in Germany under rules that were simplified last month. However, only about half had expressed interest in remaining in Germany, Schuster reported. “There are more who have the hope that this war will end soon and they will have the opportunity to return to their home country,” he said.

In the same interview, Schuster addressed the problem of rising antisemitism in Germany. “In the last two years, I’ve noticed an increase in antisemitism,” he said, tying much of the spike to the profusion of conspiracy theories during the COVID-19 pandemic.

“In the Middle Ages, Jews allegedly poisoned the wells, causing the plague,” Schuster pointed out. “Exactly this was exploited by the right-wing extremist circles that have infiltrated the [COVID-19] denial scene. And that’s where we see a clear increase in antisemitism.”