Interview
On Tuesday, Gil Ofarim published a video in which he said that he was not served in a Leipzig hotel because of his Star of David necklace. People protested in front of the hotel that evening, and the Westin issued a statement. To the stern Ofarim tells how he experienced the incident.
Mr. Ofarim, has the “Westin Leipzig” contacted you in the meantime?
Not until late in the afternoon yesterday. And that wasn’t an opinion or a form of apology, nothing. And it wasn’t addressed to me, but to my management. They want to talk to me. But there was nothing else.
The hotel’s statement was sharply criticized. There is no clear excuse. How do you see it
To be honest, yesterday I had other worries than using my cell phone to see what was happening. I still have a job at the same time, and I played theater in the evening. I can only speak for myself and I am still stunned but not surprised. It is not my first contact with personal hostility due to my origins or anti-Semitism. But I’ve never had it in that form. I’ve never had it from an employee at a hotel that people from all over the world come to and stay at. I didn’t know that.
How did the nearby hotel guests and employees react to the anti-Semitic statement?
I was alone and would have liked civil courage. But at the same time I have to say: It happened so quickly and was so bad, I didn’t know whether someone was listening or noticing. I don’t know if it was a guest or an employee who said the sentence first, but then the employee repeated it. Then I asked for a manager, whereupon I was told that unfortunately he was not there today. I was stunned, I felt really shitty. But I am grateful that people noticed it through my video and that what is beating down on me now is crazy, but at the same time so important.
You say that it did not surprise you and that you experience hostility more often. Can you explain that?
It doesn’t happen to me every month, it isn’t like that. But it has happened many times in my life. I went to a Jewish school in Munich that went up to fourth grade. At high school, a classmate in the school yard asked me if I was Jewish. When I said yes, he said: “You know, Dachau is not far from here.” These are sentences that stay in your memory. And after what happened now, it was just too much. It is enough. I have been campaigning against anti-Semitism for years. But I wonder where this is going to lead. A few days earlier I was on a program in honor of the clarinetist Giora Feidman, which also dealt with anti-Semitism, and told this story about the schoolyard. I don’t know if that polarizes or triggers any people. But that was two or three days earlier, and that’s exactly what happened to me in Leipzig. Sure, if you stand up for something like that, you make yourself a target.
Have you ever felt like you had to hide your Star of David?
Not that I can remember, no
You thanked your colleagues Gregor Meyle and Jeanette Biedermann on Instagram, among others. How come?
I was previously on a TV show they host. And it was a great day, I was actually totally happy. Great show, it was finally about live music again. I then said goodbye and was taken to the hotel. After that happened, I phoned my manager outside, who immediately arranged for someone to pick me up from production. I was then taken to another hotel, went into the room and tried to lie down. And then the two of them got in touch with me and said they were downstairs now and that I absolutely had to come down. That was great. The whole band was there together. They were with me for two or three hours, which was very good.
How did you experience the reactions to your video?
To be honest, I didn’t notice. Today I was told that people are demonstrating in front of the hotel to fly their flags and protest against anti-Semitism. That means a lot to me personally, but this is not about me, it is basically about the problem of discrimination in this country. We have anti-Semitism, discrimination against people based on their sexuality, different skin color, against everything that is somehow “different”. But to be honest: Germany is colorful. Germany is so much more than this brown soup.
What has to change?
I have no idea. If I had the recipe for it, believe me, I would have passed it on long ago. Iris Berben sat next to me at the gala (editor’s note: in honor of Giora Feidman) and said that it is our responsibility to educate. And maybe it also depends on the education in this country and more needs to be done. But I just don’t know It is only important to get up and show moral courage. And not to let that go.
You thought about uploading your video at all. What made you do it in the end?
One must not be silent. You have to open your mouth and clearly do something about it. It will be enough sometime. It is really enough.
I am a 24-year-old writer and journalist who has been working in the news industry for the past two years. I write primarily about market news, so if you’re looking for insights into what’s going on in the stock market or economic indicators, you’ve come to the right place. I also dabble in writing articles on lifestyle trends and pop culture news.
