A protestor outside the Documenta art festival in Germany holds a sign reading “Where Israel is boycotted, Jews are boycotted.” Photo: Reuters/Boris Roessler/dpa

As Germany prepares for this week’s anniversary of the 1938 “Reichspogromnacht” — or Kristallnacht — when hundreds of Jews were arrested and murdered and Jewish-owned stores were burned down by Nazi thugs, a new program designed to combat antisemitism is being launched by the government with partner organizations.

A series of posters is being unveiled in eight different cities to challenge common antisemitic and anti-Zionist tropes, including comparisons of the State of Israel with the Nazi regime. “Equating Israel with national socialism is so much more than just wrong,” one poster declares.

At a press conference on Monday to unveil the new campaign, Felix Klein — the German federal government’s commissioner tasked with combating antisemitism — said it was time for the country to heed the Jewish community’s anxiety over rising antisemitism.

“Whether it’s the artworks at the Documenta festival or hatred of Israel online, the same applies to all forms of antisemitism: the perspectives of those affected must finally be heard and taken seriously,” Klein said.

Mark Danilow, the vice-president of the Central Council of German Jews, told the same press conference of his concern that antisemitic incidents would increase with the onset of winter. Recent government statistics showed an average of five anti-Jewish outrages in Germany on a daily basis; according to Danilow, the energy and economic crises generated in part by the Russian invasion of Ukraine would push ordinary Germans to search “for simple explanations and culprits for their problems.”

Tahera Ameer of the Amadeu Antonio Foundation — an anti-racist NGO based in Berlin — reflected that the post-war injunction “Never Again” could not be allowed to become an “empty phrase.” She added that the increase in antisemitic incidents demonstrated that “we’re slowly running out of superlatives for the red lines [being crossed].”

Klein highlighted his concern that the documentation of antisemitic incidents needs to be improved. More government funding was needed for the regional offices of RIAS, which monitors antisemitism at local level, Klein said.