A shop owner in Flensburg, northern Germany, has sparked outrage after hanging a sign in his store window reading "Jews are forbidden here." He claimed it was a protest against Israel's military operations in the Gaza Strip. Despite police arriving at the scene on Wednesday night, the sign remained in place, according to German media reports published Thursday.
The sign, written in large letters, read "Jews" with "forbidden here" underneath, followed by four exclamation points. In smaller letters it added: "Nothing personal, not even antisemitism, I just can't stand you."
The store owner, Hans Platen-Reisch, 60, insisted he was not being antisemitic. "Jews live in Israel, and I can't tell who supports the strikes and who doesn't," he told a local paper. "To me, it's hypocrisy. They always say history must not repeat itself, and then they do the same themselves."
Simone Lange, a former lord mayor of Flensburg, filed a complaint with police. "I went to the police station today and filed a report about the incident," she wrote on Facebook.
Felix Klein, Germany's commissioner for combating antisemitism, condemned the act in an interview with German television. "This is clear antisemitism, with direct connections to the Nazi period, when Jews were boycotted and signs like these were widespread," he said. "This must not be tolerated under any circumstances."
German Education Minister Karin Prien of the conservative Christian Democratic Union (CDU), the first Jewish woman to serve as a federal minister in Germany's modern history, praised the legal complaints against the shop owner. "Anyone who expresses or justifies antisemitism opposes everything our democratic life represents," she told a local newspaper. "We stand firmly with the Jewish community. Let there be no doubt: We will not tolerate antisemitism – not in Flensburg, not in Germany, not anywhere in the world."
Annabel Fescher, head of the regional Green Party branch, also called for swift action. "We expect the competent authorities to investigate and prosecute this case. Antisemitic provocations like this cannot be accepted," she said.
