German left-wing radicals say Jews have ‘too much influence’

A study released last week in Berlin showed widespread anti-Semitism among left-wing Germans.

According to the academic survey conducted by the Free University of Berlin, 34 percent of the respondents defined as leftist extremists said Jews have “too much influence” in Germany, and that 16% of Germans who were classified as radical left-wing harbored anti-Semitic views. 

The study showed 34% of leftwing extremists affirmed the anti-Semitic attitude that Jews are “money-grabbing,” while of those termed radical leftists, 13% said Jews are consumed with money. 

Extensive studies on left-wing anti-Semitism are rare in Europe.

The Research Association on the SED [Socialist Unity Party] State at the Free University, which conducted the study, devotes research to the former East German communist state and its now-defunct controlling party SED. The association seeks ”to gain more insight into the outer and inner conditions that made possible the 40 years of a second German dictatorship in the 20th century,” according to its website.

Monika Deutz-Schroeder and Klaus Schroeder, the academics who conducted the study, said the view of anti-Jewish extremist leftism can be traced to the word “Jew” as a synonym for “capitalist” and “exploiter.”

The study was financed by the Federal Ministry of Family, Senior Citizens, Women and Youth. The Free University researchers say there has been more left-wing violence in Germany since 2009 than right-wing violence. The academics based their claim on an analysis of police statistics since then.

The researchers do not see left-wing violence as a threat to Germany’s democracy, but warned of a potential growing violence among leftists.

The study used a method of questionnaires from a 2015 published study and an evaluation of the results, which the researchers used in their analysis of an online survey in which 36,000 people participated.

Left-wing anti-Semitism has been increasingly punctuated with calls to boycott the Jewish state. The annual international worker’s day event in Berlin hosted BDS (Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions) groups. The presence of the F.O.R Palestine (For One State and Return in Palestine), and the BDS campaign organization prompted the Ecological Left to pull the plug on its participation in the May event.

In February, the French-German bank DAB terminated the bank account for BDS-Campaign. The city of Bremen in northern Germany is widely considered to be a hotspot for BDS. The left-leaning SDP mayor Carsten Sieling has declined to intervene to stop a BDS group – Bremer Peace Forum – that operates in city owned property.

Benjamin Weinthal is a senior fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies.