Germany scraps music prize over antisemitism before 'kippa march'

Echo music award was given to rappers with antisemitic lyrics.

By REUTERS
Updated: APRIL 26, 2018 12:55
German Chancellor Angela Merkel (C) appears on a large screen as she makes an address during an anti-Semitism in Berlin. (photo credit: REUTERS)
German Chancellor Angela Merkel (C) appears on a large screen as she makes an address during an anti-Semitism in Berlin.
(photo credit: REUTERS)
BERLIN - Germany's music industry scrapped its prestigious annual Echo awards on Wednesday after a row over antisemitism, hours before nationwide rallies were due to take place in support of the Jewish community amid growing concern about hostility.
The awarding of this year's Echo music prize to a rapper duo accused of reciting antisemitic lyrics caused outrage. Several previous winners returned their awards in protest.
Thousands of people are expected to don Jewish caps, or kippas, in evening marches in Berlin, Cologne and other cities as Jewish groups try to harness anger over an attack last week on an Israeli Arab who wore a kippa as an experiment.
He ended up being subjected to verbal abuse by three people on a Berlin street and was lashed with a belt by a Syrian Palestinian. A video was posted on the internet.
That attack followed reports of bullying of Jewish children in schools and prompted the head of the Central Council of Jews, Josef Schuster, to advise Jews not to wear kippas in big cities.
German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas told the Tagesspiegel daily that antisemitic attacks were directed at "all of us".
"No one may be discriminated against because of their origin, the color of their skin or religion," he said.
In a further show of solidarity with the Jewish community, the BVMI music association said the Echo prize had been so damaged by the row that a new start was required.
"On no account do we want this music prize to be a platform for antisemitism, contempt for women, homophobia or for belittling violence," it said in a statement.
The controversial winners were Kollegah and Farid Bang, whose lyrics include: "I'm doing another Holocaust, coming with a Molotov" and who sing that their bodies are "more defined than Auschwitz prisoners".
Germany is not alone in its struggle against hostility to Jews. France was shocked by the murder last month of a Holocaust survivor in a suspected antisemitic attack, and Britain's main opposition Labour Party is embroiled in an antisemitism row.
However, the legacy of the Holocaust, in which the Nazis killed at least six million Jews, has left Germans with a special sense of responsibility.
Germany"s Merkel says fight against antisemitism must be won, April 18, 2018 (Reuters)
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Since 1991, the number of Jews belonging to a religious community has more than tripled to more than 100,000, boosted by an influx from the former Soviet Union. About the same number are non-practicing Jews or people with Jewish roots in Germany.
This compares to about 600,000 before the Nazi Holocaust and just 10,000 at the end of World War Two.
Tagesspiegel daily, citing government figures, has reported that four antisemitic crimes were reported on average per day last year, around the same level as in 2016. The majority - 1,377 of 1,452 - were committed by right-wing radicals.
The anti-immigrant Alternative for Germany (AfD) blames the influx of more than 1.6 million migrants, many from the Middle East, since 2014.
"We sounded warnings very early about the huge strength of Muslim anti-Semitism," said senior AfD member Georg Pazderski.
Schuster from the Central Council of Jews also called on Muslim groups to stand up to antisemitism. "There can be no tolerance of intolerance," he said.
Germany's Central Council of Muslims and Turkish groups have backed the rallies.
"If you want to fight Islamophobia, then you can't tolerate antisemitism either. And we know where antisemitism ended up in German history," Gokay Sofuoglu, head of the Turkish Communities in Germany, told the Berliner Zeitung.
In an attempt to assuage concerns, Germany has appointed an antisemitism commissioner, former diplomat Felix Klein, who starts work next month, but critics say Chancellor Angela Merkel's government has done too little.