Tim Kurockin, a 21-year-old Jewish student from Bavaria, moved to Berlin shortly before October 7, 2023 — the day Hamas carried out its deadly attack on Israel. Since then, he says, some Jewish friends have been physically attacked simply because they were identifiable as Jewish. Kurockin describes himself as “not visibly Jewish”: he does not wear a kippah or a Star of David. Still, he is careful in public, avoids telling many people he is Jewish and steers clear of demonstrations whose slogans he disagrees with, though he does not say he lives in constant fear.
Kurockin studies at the Berlin School of Economics and Law and takes part in student Jewish groups including Hillel and the Jewish Student Union of Germany (JSUD). He and others point out that Jewish institutions in Berlin have long been under police protection, but the mood on the streets has grown noticeably tenser since autumn 2023. Public events once attended up close, such as the Hanukkah candle-lighting at the Brandenburg Gate, were heavily secured in December; heavy bollards and increased security are visible outside Jewish cultural centers across the city.
The October 7 attack left more than 1,200 people dead and about 250 taken hostage in Israel. In the months that followed, the Gaza war — during which Gaza’s Health Ministry, cited by the UN and many rights groups as a primary source, has reported tens of thousands of Palestinian deaths — contributed to rising threats and further tightened security in Berlin.
Young Jewish Berliners report a range of experiences. Some are open about their identity and daily life; others keep quiet. Several say they have not faced direct discrimination, while others have been threatened or warned off speaking Hebrew aloud. Kurockin criticizes what he sees as hollow Holocaust remembrance in Germany: many commemorations, he says, amount to repetitive social-media posts or familiar images of Auschwitz. “That is not enough,” he says. He calls for concrete measures against antisemitism, noting the rise of the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) and growing left-wing extremism and Israel-related antisemitism. He worries the political taboo on collaboration with far-right forces is eroding.
Estimates of Berlin’s Jewish population vary. Official community membership is roughly 10,000, but the real number is higher and has increased with arrivals from Ukraine; some estimates put the Israeli population in Berlin alone between 15,000 and 30,000.
Twenty-year-old Lilach Sofer, who studies in Potsdam and lives in Berlin, tries to keep a low profile online because political comments quickly draw abusive reactions. Her mother is Israeli and her father German. She says daily life in the city can be lived “quite normally,” though she is cautious: after friends were threatened with a knife for speaking Hebrew, she stopped speaking it loudly in public and no longer wears a Star of David necklace. “Right now, anywhere in Berlin, you’d have to be crazy to wear one,” she says.
For some, the risk of becoming a target is a constant consideration. David Gorelik, 21, says his life “changed very, very much” after October 7. Active in Meet a Jew — a program that facilitates personal encounters between Jewish and non-Jewish people — and a member of Chabad, he divides his studies between Erfurt and the university for Jewish studies in Heidelberg, places where visible signs of Jewish practice such as a kippah are sometimes less risky. Still, he notes wearing religious items can be a statement: after October 7 he chose to wear his tzitzit openly, arguing that “the antisemites want to pressure us into hiding.”
Gorelik rejects the notion that Jews should leave Germany. He argues Jewish life has expanded markedly in recent years: every state capital now has a synagogue, the military has a Jewish chaplaincy, and Berlin’s Chabad has opened a campus intended to be outward-facing. He urges more direct encounters between Jews and non-Jews so everyday realities and Judaism’s diversity can overcome prejudice. Yet he adds a political caveat: the prospect of the AfD taking high office could be a reason to emigrate to Israel.
Views on commemoration and political responsibility vary, but a common thread is the desire for action beyond ritual remembrance. Many young Jews call for stronger, practical measures to combat antisemitism, clearer political stances against far-right cooperation and more opportunities for personal exchange to reduce ignorance and hostility.
This article was originally written in German.
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