Published: 26 April 2019
Last updated: 4 March 2024
His is a quiet and peaceful office, perhaps a necessity when every day is dedicated to confronting a seemingly eternal hatred. There are many difficult jobs in the world, and, as he described for me the nature of anti-Semitism erupting from every corner of German society, I recall thinking his job was one of them.
A religious scholar whose PhD dissertation explored theories of religion in the brain sciences (“neurotheologies”), a Protestant and the husband of a Muslim Turkish woman, Dr Blume, 42, cannot be placed easily into current-day identity categories. In his youth, Dr Blume himself struggled to understand his place in Germany and the world.
His great-grandfather had been imprisoned in Dachau as a Jehovah’s Witness, and died from wounds inflicted during torture. In a brutal twist, his son – Dr Blume’s grandfather – not only abandoned his faith in the Jehovah’s Witness church but went on to participate in the Nazi regime.
In later years, he also participated in the socialist regime of the DDR, but, after spending a year in a Stasi prison for trying to escape, he was “bought free” and allowed to live in western Germany. That Dr Blume was the first in his family to have the chance to grow up in a democracy is not lost on him.
In front of our eyes, we see the cross-linking of anti-Semitic myths of rightist, leftist and religious origin across all continents, cultures and religions forming an already global mixture.
What legacy does a family history of persecution, loss of faith and guilt of participation in the Nazi machine leave for the descendants? In Dr Blume’s case, it appears to have, at least partly, inspired his interest in theology and multi-faith dialogue, and his dedication to religious freedom.
In 2017, he wrote the book Islam in Crisis: A World Religion between Radicalization and Silent Retreat, but it is his forthcoming book, Why anti-Semitism threatens us all: How new media fuel old conspiracy myths, that will bring together all he has studied as well as more recent, intimate knowledge gained in his work as state anti-Semitism commissioner.
Dr Blume took up his position in the context of a Germany that saw a 60 per cent increase in violent anti-Semitic attacks in 2018. This is a Germany whose leading opposition party is the far right Alternative for Deutschland (AfD), which awards rappers – on Holocaust Remembrance Day, no less – for music containing crass references to Auschwitz and alluding to world control by Jewish bankers.
In today’s Germany, shouts of “death to the Jews” can be heard at protest marches, and conspiracy myths (Dr Blume refuses them the status of the title “theory”) can be espoused not only by musicians but by elected politicians. While these incidents generate public condemnation from leaders, Dr Blume says there is no doubt anti-Semitism is omnipresent globally and in Germany, despite decades of Holocaust memorialisation and education.
When a newly elected member to the Baden-Württemberg state parliament said, “The Zionists need Islamism as a mass weapon for the destruction of (remaining) Christian foundations […]. For this very reason, we can only proceed against Islamisation by also acting against Zionism”, Dr Blume was horrified but not surprised.
He understands that anti-Semitism is an “explosive mixture” of “racism and conspiracy myth”, that the Jews are the “ultimate enemy” for those on the far right, but also on the far left, and within sectors of the Muslim community, including some of Germany’s newest migrants.
In today’s Germany, shouts of “death to the Jews” can be heard at protest marches, and conspiracy myths (Dr Blume refuses them the status of the title “theory”) can be espoused not only by musicians but by elected politicians.
Supposed Jewish responsibility for the influx of refugees to the United States was the key conspiracy myth that drove the far-right perpetrator of the Pittsburgh synagogue massacre. Just as the Nazis believed, Jews are either seen as too left, too progressive, too liberal, or as too wealthy, too mixed up in finance and the media, too oppressive of others.
“There is science in this. People are prone to believe in myth, either good or evil,” Dr Blume explains. The anti-Jewish myth is the thread linking Germany’s far right (and the far right globally), radical Islamists (ISIS, he says, believes as much in the Protocols of the Elders of Zion as did the Nazis), and the far left, which perceives a mystical power in the “Jewish lobby” and a “unique evil” in Israel.
Dr Blume and his federal counterpart, Felix Klein, have both said publicly that anti-Semitism is implicit in the BDS movement, which holds all Israelis (and Jews) responsible for Israeli government policy. In this era of unending civil wars and related mass migration, of divisive politics amplified by social media, people look to conspiracies – with Jews as the scapegoat – as an easy answer.
Bigotry is a pyramid, with the anti-Jewish super-conspiracy at the very top filtering down through every other, and with social media acting “like a fire accelerator by spreading even the most absurd conspiracy claim”.
In his inaugural speech in Heidelberg, Dr Blume answered criticism that his post is “only” mandated to deal with anti-Semitism and not other forms of discrimination: “In front of our eyes, we see the cross-linking of anti-Semitic myths of rightist, leftist and religious origin across all continents, cultures and religions forming an already global mixture,” he said.
To elaborate, he points to claims that ISIS is actually the Mossad; that various world leaders including Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, have been installed by the Jews; that there were no Jews in the Twin Towers on September 11, 2001; and to accusations from every group that their opponents are controlled by “the Zionists”.
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The German government is responding to the rise in anti-Semitism, recognising the importance of intervention. While such action is welcomed, some German Jews have questioned whether the appointment of anti-Semitism commissioners such as Blume and Klein will be effective and whether bureaucrats can genuinely understand, or combat, this long-standing prejudice.
Dr Blume works closely with a council of 18 experts including scientists, practitioners and advisers from Jewish, Christian and Muslim communities. He is due to deliver his first report on anti-Semitism in June, containing policy recommendations in the fields of education, integration, culture and law.
To me, Dr Blume seems to have an indelible sense of what anti-Semitism can lead to, and, perhaps more significantly, where it stems from. “I always asked myself if I’d have had the courage to resist,” he says, referring to the Holocaust. Now, he is in a position to do something even more impactful – prevent.
Photo: Dr Michael Blume (Courtesy: State of Baden-Württemberg)
