Germany’s capital city, Berlin, is plagued by growing anti-Semitism. Attacks on Jews in Berlin more than tripled in 2018 compared to the previous year. German anti-Semitism is again becoming popular, and the citizens of Berlin are no longer afraid to show it openly, even on camera. Despite various studies and reports, few understand where the hatred originates and where it is leading.

This is not Berlin’s first time at the center of German anti-Semitism. Nationwide, Berlin has by far the most anti-Semitic offenses in proportion to its population. About twice as many anti-Semitic crimes are reported in Berlin as in the state with the second-most crimes.

By mid-December 2018, 295 anti-Semitic crimes had been reported by Berlin police, a number almost as high as the previous year’s. However, this was but the preliminary figure. The final count is expected to be higher. The number of anti-Semitic violent acts drastically increased in 2018. By mid-December, statistics showed 24 such attacks. In 2017, there were only seven.

The general consensus is that although anti-Semitism has always been a problem in the capital, it has never been as open as it is today. “I have the impression that anti-Semitism is becoming louder, more blatant and more aggressive,” Berlin’s first commissioner for anti-Semitism, Claudia Vanoni, said.

It would be easy to overlook this trend compared to the hundreds of crimes committed every year in Berlin. Many readers following the news reports did just that. Others blamed the increased Muslim population or the comparatively higher number of Jews living in Berlin. None seemed to accept that the blame could be found among their own German neighbors or themselves.

Considering Germany’s history, you might expect a more critical examination of this trend. But it is this history that many Germans want to forget.

Some German news analysts and commentators claim that the current anti-Semitism problem is “mostly imported,” in other words, attributable to the large influx of refugees. While it is true that an increased number of Muslim immigrants has contributed to the overall hatred against Jews in Germany, most offenders are, in fact, Germans.

Tagesspiegel reported last August in regards to the published police report that most of the offenses, 62 at the time, were committed by right-wing anti-Semites. Only in the case of eight offenses were suspects motivated by a “foreign ideology,” referring to migrants who attack Jews, or people they believe to be Jews, out of hatred for Israel.

Others might think that the increased attacks against Jews are part of an overall trend of increased criminality in Berlin. But this is not true either. Germany’s Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung reported on March 2, 2018, that, overall, Berlin is becoming a safer place and crimes are decreasing, with one of only a few exceptions being that of xenophobic crimes.

Most of these incidents receive little public attention, but those that do, show a deep-seated hatred for Jews. A recent example of this open hatred was last November’s harassment of Israeli European correspondent Antonia Yamin. While Yamin reported on the streets of Berlin about Brexit, she was suddenly interrupted by passers-by who threw firecrackers at her. The offenders were German adolescents.

This hatred toward Jews is not new to Germany. What is new is that more and more citizens are no longer ashamed of their hatred. Before we take a deeper look at why anti-Semitism is resurging in Berlin, let’s consider one incident that vividly illustrates the declining inhibition in showing that hatred.

‘Never Show That You Are a Jew in Public’

Restaurant owner Israeli Yorai Feinberg had learned to live with anti-Semitism in Germany, Spiegel reported on Dec. 20, 2017. But Tuesday afternoon, Dec. 19, 2017, he was confronted with a new level of hatred: Out of the blue, a man who saw the menorah in his restaurant started insulting him and even threatened his life if he remained in Germany.

This case, wrote Spiegel, “shows that anti-Semitism is not just an imported phenomenon that is virulent only among Muslims in Germany” (Trumpet translation throughout).

Unlike the many other incidences of anti-Semitism, this expressed hatred was filmed and seen by thousands who brought it to the media’s attention. Spiegel wrote:

Yorai Feinberg got used to many things after five years as an Israeli in Berlin. Anti-Semitic insults on the telephone, anti-Israeli demonstrations, even the fact that one day a paper bag with a large pile of excrement was placed in front of the entrance to Feinberg’s Israeli restaurant in the district of Schöneberg.

But the 36-year-old has never seen something like what he saw on Tuesday afternoon in Berlin: Feinberg stood with a girlfriend in front of his restaurant as a man approached him.

The man was not a Muslim, not a rebellious teenager or outward extremist. He wasn’t speaking under the influence of alcohol or as a result of provocation. Instead he was an average 60-year-old man who explicitly expressed his anti-Semitic views without shame. It didn’t even bother him when the girlfriend started video-recording him.

The video that was then posted on Facebook revealed the existing hatred against the Jews living in Germany, as well as the hatred against the State of Israel as a whole. The man was recorded saying: “What are you doing here after 1945? Did the gas chambers not suffice?”

Furthermore, he accused Yorai of suppressing the Palestinians and added: “These are my grounds, my land.” He threatened him saying that in “10 years you will all be gone.” The video ended with him saying, “Nobody protects you. You will all end up in the gas chamber. Nobody wants you here.”

As Feinberg called a passing police officer to the incident, the recording ended, but the insults did not. “The man didn’t even stop his anti-Semitic insults in front of the police officers. ‘The Jews are lying,’ he cried,” Yorai told Spiegel.

The insults are not that of an uninformed man, but rather one educated and fueled by German media and society. According to the 60-year-old German, the Jewish people have neither a home in Germany nor in the land of Palestine. He did not refer to it as “Israel.”

How many Germans privately express these same views? Even if it’s only a few hundred, it should concern us. It doesn’t take many to spread the dangerous poison through a receptive nation that seeks to forget its history.

“Never show that you are a Jew in public” is the advice the president of the Jewish Forum for Democracy and Anti-Semitism, Levi Salomon, received from his grandfather, who witnessed the Holocaust. Though his grandfather’s viewpoint was shaped by a cruel past, it is equally applicable today, Salomon says.

On April 3, 2017, in an interview with the German daily newspaper Tagesspiegel, Salomon recounted that “anti-Semitism is becoming socially acceptable [again].” Salomon’s comments at the time were in response to widespread reports in the media of a 14-year-old Jewish boy who was attacked by classmates at a school in Berlin. Such instances show that Germany’s schools are infested with anti-Semitism to one extent or another.

Berlin has again become the center of anti-Semitism for young and old, residents and immigrants. But few ask why. It is tragic that more newspapers don’t give in-depth reports about these statistics and attacks. But even more tragic is that no one seems to search for the real cause behind it all.

Berlin’s Anti-Semitic History

How did Berlin become the capital of anti-Semitism in Germany? Just look at Germany’s recent history and you will find a definite answer.

Adolf Hitler first rose in popularity in Munich, Bavaria. His nationalistic-socialistic ideology captured the imagination of the people as they were frustrated by the current government’s ineffectiveness. Their frustration coupled with the guilt and punishment they bore for World War i made them receptive to Hitler’s message of liberation.

His message about the Jews especially resonated with the people.

At the time, Germans didn’t want to hear any more about their culpability in the Great War and their cruel past. They were ready to blame someone else for their problems. The scapegoat became, again, the Jews.

Thus Hitler’s speeches stirred Germans in the Bavarian beer halls to support his movement. Although his attempt to usurp power in 1923 in the so-called Beer Hall Putsch failed, he later succeeded in establishing Bavaria as the capital of Nazism. Bavaria embraced the new radical leadership and allowed the building of the first concentration camp near its capital city.

From here, the center of radicalism spread to Berlin—first through the propaganda and public relations of Joseph Goebbels, and then through the many high-ranking Nazi officials who moved to the city.

The effects of that propaganda are still seen today. Next to Berlin, Bavaria is the state with the most reports of anti-Semitic crime.

While this gives us some insight into why Bavaria and Berlin are most prone to being plagued by anti-Semitism, it doesn’t explain the recent surge in anti-Semitism.

Breeding Ground for Anti-Semitism

Some argue that the few instances of anti-Semitism in Germany cannot be compared to what Hitler did. This argument is valid—what he did was unprecedented. But you can compare the breeding ground that led to Hitler’s rise to what is happening today. The parallels are striking.

As in the time of Hitler’s rise, Germans are again receptive to the same lies. Germany is again in crisis mode: stumbling from the euro crisis into the refugee crisis into the current political crisis.

Hitler’s propaganda today is repeated by the right-wing Alternative für Deutschland, in online blogs, social media and even in the mainstream media’s anti-Israel bias.

Again, Germany has heard enough of its past war guilt. Again, the scapegoat is the Jews.

Seen from the perspective of a German anti-Semite, Germany’s problems all trace back to the Jews. Because of the Jews, Germany today is accused of having committed a great genocide. Because of the Jews, Germany’s government is apologetic and withdrawn from world power. Because of the Jews, there is the Israeli-Palestinian conflict that causes tensions throughout the Middle East and drives Muslims and Jews to Europe.

“Call this 1930s-style anti-Semitism, if you will,” theTrumpet.com managing editor Brad Macdonald wrote. “And history shows that unless it is checked, it leads directly to Jews being gassed and tossed like worthless fodder into ovens, or what in hindsight might be called 1940s-style anti-Semitism.”

Germany rejected the history of World War i and started another world war. Today, Germany rejects the history of World War ii. How can we believe that history will not repeat itself?

Tragically, it will repeat itself. We find proof of this on the ground in Germany, in history, and most vividly in Bible prophecy. You have to consult the Bible to understand anti-Semitism and to learn where it is leading.

The Jews have indeed been at the center of history’s conflicts and a world war. Today, we find the Jews in the midst of persecution, again not as perpetrators but as its victims. The reason behind this reveals one of the most horrifying truths about our world, but it also reveals a wonderful hope beyond that.

Why Anti-Semitism?

Conspiracy theory after conspiracy theory has been proved wrong. Jews were not responsible for the Black Death, neither for the financial crisis prior to World War ii, nor for any other crisis that men brought on themselves and accused the Jews of.

Some say it is because the Jews crucified Christ. Hitler claimed the same in 1926, when he said, “Christ was the greatest early fighter in the battle against the world enemy, the Jews …. The work that Christ started but could not finish, I—Adolf Hitler—will conclude” (Adolf Hitler, John Toland).

Of course that is not true. Christ didn’t fight anyone when He was on Earth except Satan and his influence. While some Jews were directly involved in Christ’s crucifixion, the Bible says all of us have sinned and are therefore responsible for Christ’s death (Romans 3:23).

Another lie evident from Hitler’s statement is that anti-Semitism supposedly started in Christ’s day. But the entire Old Testament testifies against this fact. Jews, and Israelites in general, have always suffered persecution. Moses experienced it firsthand. In his early childhood, he was separated from his parents to save him from death. God delivered Israel through Moses because the persecution became so unbearable that the people cried out to God (Exodus 2:23-24). In 167 b.c., Antiochus Epiphanes invaded Jerusalem with the goal of utterly destroying the Jewish faith. Then, after the birth of Christ, King Herod demanded the death of all Jewish infants.

Evidently, anti-Semitism didn’t start during Christ’s ministry.

But Hitler’s statement and his great lie, which has been taught throughout history, gives us insight into why anti-Semitism. To understand anti-Semitism, you have to understand what motivated Hitler and Germany to do what they did. Hitler’s motivation is thoroughly explained in Germany and the Holy Roman Empire, by Trumpet editor in chief Gerald Flurry, free upon request.

There is a reason why anti-Semitism exists and also why God has allowed it to exist.

Hitler’s insane reasoning cannot be explained unless you consider what the Bible says about the spirit world. Because the world has rejected God and the Bible, it cannot understand the source of anti-Semitism. For this lack of understanding, 6 million Jews were killed in World War ii and mankind as a whole has suffered through the ages.

2 Corinthians 4:4 clearly says that Satan is the “god of this world.” Revelation 12:9 says that Satan has deceived the whole world. Ephesians 2:2 says that he works in the minds of people. If you believe the Bible, you have to accept these scriptures; and if you want to understand the true source of anti-Semitism, you have to understand the Bible.

For millennia, Satan has led numerous attempts to exterminate the Jews. It was Satan who worked in Hitler, just like Ephesians 2:2 states. In Mr. Flurry explains in Germany and the Holy Roman Empire:

Much of the world looks upon the Jews as God’s chosen people. In Vienna, Hitler came to believe that God had replaced the Jews with the Germans and the Holy Roman Empire. He believed the Germans were God’s chosen people. …

Hitler considered the Jew to be the devil personified. In truth, the Jews have been specially commissioned to preserve the oracles of God (Romans 3:1-3). The oracles include the sacred calendar, knowledge of the biblical week, including the seventh-day Sabbath, and the Old Testament Scriptures.

Jews suffered at Hitler’s hand more than any other race. Historically, the main victim of the Holy Roman Empire has been the spiritual Jews—or God’s Church (Revelation 6:9-11; 17:5-6).

So Hitler’s hatred of Jews goes much deeper than the world has ever even imagined. The main force of this emotion is Satan’s hatred for God!

Hitler caused the death of 6 million Jews, and his ambitions were far worse. To this day, Hitler’s propaganda motivates hatred for the Jews. But even worse, the spirit being that motivated Hitler to do what he did is still around today and more active than ever.

Because of Berlin’s, and Germany’s, history, the German people are especially susceptible to Satan’s broadcast.

The Bible reveals that the Holy Roman Empire led by Germany will lead yet another attempt to exterminate the Jews. Bible prophecy is sure, history proves its accuracy, and today’s news sounds the alarm yet again.

Remember what the 60-year-old German told a Jew while he was recorded in the middle of Berlin: “What are you doing here after 1945? Did the gas chambers not suffice?” Shouldn’t such statements make us pause and wonder if it could happen again?

A prophecy in Psalm 83 shows that the worst hatred for the Jews is yet ahead. “Keep not thou silence, O God: hold not thy peace, and be not still, O God. For, lo, thine enemies make a tumult: and they that hate thee have lifted up the head. They have taken crafty counsel against thy people [Israel], and consulted against thy hidden ones. They have said, Come, and let us cut them off from being a nation; that the name of Israel may be no more in remembrance” (verses 1-4).

The enemies of Israel in this prophecy refer to an alliance between Germany and a few moderate Arab nations. You can read about the identity of these nations in “An Alliance Between Arab Nations and Europe.” Historians agree that no such alliance ever happened in the past, thus the prophecy is for our day.

In these verses we see what Mr. Flurry explained above. While the hatred manifests itself as a hatred against Israel, it is a disguised hatred against God. That’s the biblical answer to the question of the origin of anti-Semitism: it originates in mankind’s hatred of God. But while mankind has rejected God, He has not given up on man. His master plan includes the resurrection of all people who have ever lived and never knew the true God. This is the most wonderful news mankind could ever hear.

The modern descendants of ancient Israel, including the Jews, have also rejected God and lost His protection. But the coming suffering will turn them back to Him. Notice Hosea 6:1: “Come, and let us return unto the Lord: for he hath torn, and he will heal us; he hath smitten, and he will bind us up.”

After the Psalm 83 alliance nearly succeeds in erasing Israel from the map, the people will learn their lesson and again turn to God. Israel will finally trust solely in God for peace, and their example will turn the whole world to God. Read Chapter 2 of Mr. Flurry’s booklet The King of the South for more information. He explains how this hatred against Israel will soon manifest itself and the wonderful news that follows thereafter.