Days after Germany's anti-Semitism czar lamented that Jews would be ill-advised to wear kippot in public because of anti-Semitism in the country, one of the nation's leading dailies printed a "do-it-yourself kippah" cutout on its front page on Monday, as an act of solidarity with the Jewish community.
Ahead of the publication, which occupied about a quarter of the front page, Editor-in-Chief Julian Reichelt wrote: "If only one person in our country cannot carry [a] kippah without endangering himself, the answer can only be that we all wear a kippah. The kippah belongs to Germany!"
In an open letter printed next to the cutout, Reichelt called on Germans to embrace their Jewish compatriots. The online site of the paper also included a video of how to cut out the paper kippah.
The gesture came in reaction to anti-Semitism commissioner Felix Klein's interview from Saturday, in which he warned that it was probably too risky to wear a kippah in public.
"My opinion has unfortunately changed compared with what it used to be on the matter," Klein said. "I cannot recommend to Jews that they wear the skullcap at all times everywhere in Germany."
He did not elaborate on when and where he thought doing so might be risky.
The remark has drawn mixed reactions in Germany and in Israel.
President Reuven Rivlin said on Sunday that he was "shocked" by the statement.
