German paper prints DIY kippot in face of anti-Semitism fears
Declaring traditional Jewish skullcap belongs in Germany, editor of Bild newspaper urges readers to show solidarity with Jewish community, educate others about Judaism
Germany's Bild newspaper on Monday included a cutout kippa in its daily edition, and urged its readers to wear it, after the country's anti-Semitism watchdog said he would not recommend that Jews wear the traditional head covering in certain areas in public.
The paper's move came after Felix Klein, the Commissioner for Jewish Life in Germany and the Fight against Antisemitism, said in an unprecedented statement that he could "no longer recommend Jews wear a kippa at every time and place in Germany."
The comment caused uproar in the German Jewish community, as well as among Jews across Europe, and even prompted a defiant response from President Reuven Rivlin.
"If even one person in our country can't wear a kippa without putting themselves in danger, the only answer is that we all wear a kippa," Bild Editor-in-Chief Julian Reichelt wrote on Twitter on Sunday, announcing the paper's response to Klein. "The kippa belongs to Germany!" he wrote.
Bild's cut-out blue kippa sports three concentric Stars of David and a white trim, and is accompanied by a call from the paper to wear it, share images online while doing so and educate others about it.
Anti-Semitic crimes rose 20 percent in Germany last year, according to Interior Ministry data that blamed nine out of 10 cases on the extreme right.
Bild is considered supportive of Israel and outspoken against anti-Semitism.
This is not the first time in recent years that Germans have donned a kippa in support of the country's Jewish community.
Last year, thousands gathered in Berlin for a protest dubbed the Kippa March, taking to the streets while wearing a skullcap in support of the Jewish community in Germany and against anti-Semitism.
President Reuven Rivlin said Sunday that he was shocked by the commissioner's words.
"We acknowledge and appreciate moral position of the German government, and its commitment to the Jewish community that lives there, but fears about the security of German Jews are a capitulation to anti-Semitism and an admittance that, again, Jews are not safe on German soil," Rivlin said in a statement released by his office.
"We will never submit, will never lower our gaze and will never react to anti-Semitism with defeatism – and expect and demand our allies act in the same way.”
