The following text was already online on Friday, before the attack in Magdeburg. The post therefore has nothing to do with the events. I had also already formulated the headline in this way on Friday lunchtime.
The rain doesn't want to stop and when the sun showed up for 30 minutes yesterday morning, pictures were posted with the subtitle: It still exists!
In the meantime, it has disappeared again behind storms, clouds, rain and hail and the last weekend of Advent will also fall into warm water - so much for the drought that we are being led to believe. Back to the topic. Christmas markets are an integral part of the pre-Christmas tradition in Germany. Almost everyone has their favorite Christmas market that they have been going to for as long as they can remember. There are Christmas markets organized by the churches, around the churches by the parishes, by organizers and promoters, with a commercial background and almost without, large and small, Christmas markets that start right after the Sunday of the Dead and go on until Christmas; Christmas markets that last until New Year's Day.
Yes, and then there have also been anti-Semitic Christmas markets since this year. - At least one that made it into the Jüdische Allgemeine, although not into the non-Jewish press in Germany.
T. Kühn reported as follows (https://www.juedische-allgemeine.de/meinung/gluehwein-und-judenhass/):
Mulled wine and hatred of Jews
Stars, punch, and gingerbread - December is the time of Christmas markets. Everywhere you go, you can enjoy delicious treats, arts and crafts and soft music. Darmstadt is no exception. An “Anticolonial Peace Christmas Market” was held there last weekend.
In the rooms of the Protestant Michaelsgemeinde parish in Liebfrauenstraße, there were not only invitations to “punch and mulled wine” and to “make a nativity scene”, but it was about something bigger: about “diversity and solidarity with all oppressed people” and about “charity”, which “plays a very important role at this time”, according to the organizers, the parish and the “Darmstadt4Palestine” initiative in a press release.
But what sounded so sweet was really quite something. Because under the cloak of charity was ice-cold anti-Semitism. The “anti-colonial” event understood “all oppressed people” to mean above all the Palestinians, whose suffering in Gaza it wanted to draw attention to.
Any means were used: red Hamas triangles were sold as key rings and posters were hung on stands calling for October 7, 2023 to be viewed in the “context of decades of violence against Palestine”. And again and again the slogan “From the river to the sea”, a call for the destruction of Israel. Sugar hearts were also sold with the inscription “Never again for everyone” - an appropriation of “Never again”, which recalls the extermination of the Jews in the Shoah. –
Since last week, the Darmstadt public prosecutor's office has, according to information from Wednesday afternoon, three charges have been filed. The Jewish community of Darmstadt had already filed charges on Tuesday, and on Wednesday the Hessian anti-Semitism commissioner. According to the public prosecutor's office, the use of symbols of unconstitutional and terrorist organizations as well as incitement to hatred have been reported.
According to eyewitness reports and available footage “all the stops were pulled out to demonize and delegitimize Israel,” said the chairman of the board of the Jewish community, Daniel Neumann.
Thursday: Following the display of anti-Israel and anti-Semitic symbols at a Christmas market of the Protestant Michaelsgemeinde in Darmstadt, the responsible regional church has temporarily banned the pastor responsible from exercising his office.
The reason for this is apparently that the Evangelical Church in Hesse and Nassau believes that the parish has not clarified the allegations clearly enough. The church is continuing to seek talks with those responsible in the parish in order to clarify the allegations. “So far, the information is still scanty,” it said in a statement published in Darmstadt.
The church leadership has therefore decided, among other things, to provisionally prohibit Pastor Manfred Werner from exercising his ministry with immediate effect in accordance with pastoral service law, the statement continued. This means, for example, that the theologian is not allowed to lead Christmas services in his congregation, a spokeswoman said. If the allegations are confirmed, the church reserves the right to take further legal action.
Pastor Manfred Werner said that he would welcome “being relieved of my duties in this situation”.
He had received death threats against him and his family from several people on the phone and from one person by text message. He had reported this to the police and asked the church leadership for support. Werner said he hoped that the church would remove him from his ministry at the moment and protect him. “I see myself pushed into a corner that I have always fought against,” said the pastor. Several artists had sent him messages of support.
Before the church leadership's decision became known, Werner had said that they would cooperate with the investigating public prosecutor's office. The parish itself was also considering filing criminal charges against the Christmas market exhibitors who had been criticized.
Werner had stated on the parish website that he deeply regretted that this incident had occurred. Such an incident should never happen again.
In the statement from the regional church, it says that the desire to support people in need - including in Gaza - is fundamentally legitimate. “However, a general anti-Israeli and delegitimizing choice of words and the sale of objects with symbols that are associated with the terrorist organization Hamas and doubt Israel's right to exist are unacceptable to us.” (https://www.juedische-allgemeine.de/politik/nach-judenhass-eklat-auf-anti-kolonialen-friedens-weihnachtsmarkt-landeskirche-untersagt-pfarrer-amtsausuebung/)
- How, pray tell, is a peaceful holiday atmosphere supposed to arise in such an environment?
But I'm not giving up hope - there are still a few days to go...
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