“You can’t walk through our neighborhood without coming across antisemitic graffiti,” says one Jewish woman living in Berlin, who wishes to remain anonymous.
For her, antisemitism has become part of everyday life since October 7, 2023, when Hamas, a Palestinian militant group based in Gaza, led an incursion into southern Israel that killed 1,200 people and took 250 hostages.
“I realize that I ask myself: where do we go from here?”
Her account is one of many found in a new study on the impact of the October 7 Hamas attacks in Israel on Jewish and Israeli communities in Germany. Respondents describe everyday life and resulting psychological problems, such as depression, insomnia, anxiety and panic attacks. It paints a grim picture of Jewish life in Germany two years after the October 7 attacks.
Israel responded to the 2023 attacks by declaring war on Hamas, which Germany, the US, the EU and other states designated a terrorist organization, in Gaza. The war has killed more than 66,000 Palestinians and injured many more, according to the Gaza Health Ministry.
Feeling isolated and fearful
The study reveals that respondents deal with exclusion, threats and fears in everyday life. Interviewees describe how they experience taking local public transport, going about their work, attending school and university or visiting doctors, with one medical professional even bringing up the war in Gaza. Many of these cases left Jews feeling socially isolated.
Like many other Jewish institutions across Germany, this newly constructed synagogue is under police protectionImage: Christoph Strack/DW
The survey found that Jews and Israelis feel a lack of empathy pervading many areas of German life. Non-Jewish relatives, long-standing friends and neighbors showed little empathy for the suffering of Jews, the report showed. It said this was also the case in dating and relationships.
State security and civil society institutions have long been recording the number of antisemitic incidents in Germany since October 7, 2023. Their records show a major rise in antisemitic incidents since October 7 and reveal that they remain at a high level. These reports also point out that ever more Jewish institutions are now under police protection.
The newly published study examined the consequences of these antisemitic incidents. It found that in many cases, respondents felt compelled to hide their Jewish identity or isolate themselves.
Antisemitic attacks in Germany rise sharply amid Gaza war
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The study was authored by Berlin psychologist Marina Chernivsky, who heads the Competence Center for Education and Research Critical of Antisemitism, and Friederike Lorenz-Sinai, a professor of social work research at the Potsdam University of Applied Sciences.
Soon after the 2023 Hamas-led attacks, Chernivsky and Lorenz-Sinai set out to find individuals willing to talk about their lives, expecting to find perhaps 30 different people. They posted ads in several languages (German, English, Russian, Hebrew) across various German cities and on social media.
To their surprise, 111 women and men joined the researchers’ interviews and group discussions. Chernivsky and Lorenz-Sinai found that the study participants experienced the October 7 attack as “powerfully overwhelming,” deeming it a historical turning point. They observed that Jews in Germany perceived others as “relativizing, legitimizing and glorifying the genocidal violence of October 7.”
The study was formally presented at a press conference attended by Ferda Ataman, Friederike Lorenz-Sinai, Marina Chernivsky, and Josef Schuster (left to right)Image: dts-Agentur/picture alliance
The study shows “how strongly antisemitism affects the everyday lives of Jews,” Germany’s Independent Federal Anti-Discrimination Commissioner Ferda Ataman said when the survey was presented in Berlin. Jews are “insulted, threatened, discriminated against and on constant alert,” Ataman added. Her anti-discrimination agency helped finance the study.
Stronger anti-discrimination law needed
Ataman said that Jews must feel “that the rule of law is there to protect them”. That is why she called for swift criminal prosecutions and better protection against discrimination in everyday life. Ataman specifically highlighted the need for a “better anti-discrimination law that is effective against antisemitism.” The current law, in force since 2006, for example, provides Israeli citizens in Germany only with limited protection against discrimination, she said.
In the study, several participants reported being ostracized or confronted with a “one-sided demonization of Israel” in the aftermath of the October 7 attacks. Yet some also reported positive experiences. One Jewish woman, for example, said that on the very first day after the massacre, her Muslim colleagues sent her messages of solidarity and support. That said, there are not many passages detailing such positive experiences in the 110-page study.
Josef Schuster, President of the Central Council of Jews in Germany, said the study’s findings were dramatic but unsurprising Image: dts-Agentur/picture alliance
The President of the Central Council of Jews in Germany, Josef Schuster, said the study painted a “depressing picture”, though one that “does not surprise Jews at all.” He said it documented “everyday” cases of antisemitism which had undergone a “dramatic escalation.”
Schuster said Jews were increasingly excluded from full participation in society and felt compelled to “hide their own identity” for their own protection.
Chernivsky and Lorenz-Sinai, meanwhile, want to continue their work on the survey. The final report, which is slated for publication in 2026, will focus on the experiences and concerns of children and young people and the future prospects of Jewish and Israeli communities in Germany.
This article was translated from German
