School: Anti-Semitism in the Classroom: What Teachers Can Do

What does Jewish life look like in Germany today? What role does social media play in anti-Semitism? Should teachers be biased? And how do conspiracy myths work? Teacher training students in Würzburg deal with questions like these in order to prepare themselves for anti-Semitism in schoolyards and classrooms.

“The Middle East conflict sometimes comes to the fore in schools,” says Ilona Nord. She is a professor of Protestant theology at the University of Würzburg, where she initiated a center for anti-Semitism critical education (CCEA) and set up an additional course of study: Zabus – certificate of anti-Semitism critical education for lessons and schools – has been available since the winter semester 2022/2023. According to experts, this is a nationwide pioneering course of study.

“We see anti-Semitism more and more in the middle of society,” says Nord. Zabus is intended to sensitize prospective teachers to anti-Semitism and show them how they can react. To do this, the students watch anti-Semitic Tiktok videos together and think about what they could do if their students watch such videos. Together they are working out how to prepare children for anti-Semitic caricatures that are still circulating – like when Meta founder Mark Zuckerberg was portrayed as an octopus a few years ago. “These are images that you don’t forget and that burn into your soul,” says Professor Nord.

Anti-Semitic incidents are increasing

Since October 7, the day of the attack on Israel by Hamas and other extremist Palestinian organizations, “we are experiencing a terrible new wave of hatred of Jews,” said Federal Interior Minister Nancy Faeser (SPD) last week. According to her ministry, the number of anti-Israel and anti-Semitic posts on social media has risen sharply. In recent months, figures from the Federal Criminal Police Office have shown an increase in anti-Semitic crimes in Germany.

Even if anti-Semitism does not only occur in schools: in the annual report by the Anti-Semitism Research and Information Center (Rias) in Berlin, educational institutions are ranked third among crime scenes, after the Internet and the street. “Schools are places of crystallization where social problems and tendencies are clearly visible and played out,” says the Bavarian Anti-Semitism Commissioner Ludwig Spaenle. Teachers would have to be well trained and trained to do this.

Partially ethnic thinking among students

“I found the topic really exciting because it doesn’t normally come up in my studies,” says 24-year-old student Anna Eberl, who started the additional course of study in 2022. Now she would recognize anti-Semitic slogans as such much more quickly. “I found the biography work to be helpful, i.e. researching what my family actually did during National Socialism and how we deal with it today. Unfortunately, I experienced a lot of silence,” says Eberl. The newly gained knowledge also affects how they deal with the current war. “When it came to social media, I sorted things out a lot,” she says. After the attacks on October 7th, she read things from some people that she didn’t approve of. According to Professor Nord, having developed your own attitude helps many of the current students.

“We don’t just want to train the fire department,” said Nord. This means that teachers should not only know how to deal with anti-Semitic incidents. “They should also proactively prevent structural anti-Semitism and integrate Jewish life and anti-Semitism-critical education into everyday school life.”

Some of the Zabus students have already gained initial experience in internships. The 27-year-old prospective secondary school teacher Lucas Gäde reports that he gave lectures about anti-Semitism at school. “Some of the students’ nationalistic thinking was brought to light,” says Gäde. Unfortunately, the time frame has not always been sufficient to address this.

Little knowledge about Jewish life today

More help for teachers seems urgently needed. “We receive a lot of inquiries from schools about how they should deal with anti-Semitism,” says CCEA co-director Judith Petzke. She would like to get started before obvious problems arise. “We do have a problem when students open a textbook and see caricatures of Jews from the Nazi era.” For many children and young people, this is their first contact with Judaism: Jews as victims of the Shoah. They learn little about current Jewish life.

Professor Nord would also like to see a move away from “didactics of concern,” in which students are confronted emotionally with stories about Jews as victims. This could lead to children and young people becoming tired of the topic at some point. In addition, emotional concern often does not result in sovereign ability to act.

Anti-Semitism also at universities

But how should teachers deal with anti-Semitic statements? According to Petzke, the answer always depends on the situation. Teachers must make it clear that certain statements will not be tolerated. “At the same time, the perception that there is a taboo and that freedom of expression is restricted can cause even more resentment,” says Petzke. These are called paradoxical effects. Educators should therefore actively talk about anti-Semitism with students. It would be best if schools had already thought about an intervention chain in advance.

Solidarity is important for Ilona Nord. She reports that anti-Semitism is currently also present at universities. “Not least through right-wing populist groups close to the AfD,” said Nord. After October 7th, Jewish students were asked to stay at home for safety. “We don’t want to accept that,” says Nord.

The attack on a Jewish student at the Free University of Berlin (FU) recently attracted national attention. He was hospitalized earlier this month with broken bones in his face. A pro-Palestinian fellow student is said to have hit and kicked him on a street in Berlin-Mitte. The public prosecutor’s office assumes a targeted attack and an anti-Semitic background.

There is also demand for other subjects

The course of study in Würzburg is exemplary – and an expansion is already being worked on: there are not only requests for further training and further education for existing teachers, according to the university. There is also great demand in other subjects such as law, education and diversity management. In the future, the additional course could also be open to aspiring diversity managers in companies.