Malmo, Sweden — At some point, the shouts of “Heil Hitler” that often greeted Marcus Eilenberg as he walked to the 107-year-old Moorish-style synagogue in this port city forced the 32-year-old attorney to make a difficult, life-changing decision: Fearing for his family’s safety after repeated anti-Semitic incidents, Eilenberg reluctantly uprooted himself and his wife and two children, and moved to Israel in May.
Sweden, a country long regarded as a model of tolerance, has, ironically, been a refuge for Eilenberg’s family. His paternal grandparents found a home in Malmo in 1945 after surviving the Holocaust. His wife’s parents came to Malmo from Poland in 1968 after the communist government here launched an anti-Semitic purge.
But as in many other cities across Europe, a rapidly growing Muslim population living in segregated conditions that seem to breed alienation has mixed toxically with the anger directed at Israeli policies and actions by those Muslims — and by many non-Muslims — to all but transform the lives of local Jews. Like many of their counterparts in other European cities, the Jews of Malmo report being subjected increasingly to threats, intimidation and actual violence as stand-ins for Israel.
“I didn’t want my small children to grow up in this environment,” Eilenberg said in a phone interview just before leaving Malmo. “It wouldn’t be fair to them to stay in Malmo.”
Malmo, Sweden’s third-largest city, with a population of roughly 293,900 but only 760 Jews, reached a turning point of sorts in January 2009, during Israel’s military campaign in Gaza. A small, mostly Jewish group held a demonstration that was billed as a peace rally but seen as a sign of support for Israel. This peaceful demonstration was cut short when the demonstrators were attacked by a much larger screaming mob of Muslims and Swedish leftists who threw bottles and firecrackers at them as police seemed unable to stop the mounting mayhem.
“I was very scared and upset at the same time,” recalled Jehoshua Kaufman, a Jewish community leader. “Scared because there were a lot of angry people facing us, shouting insults and throwing bottles and firecrackers at the same time. The sound was very loud. And I was angry because we really wanted to go through with this demonstration, and we weren’t allowed to finish it.”
But the problem is not just Muslims, and not just Malmo’s.
A European Problem
A continentwide study, conducted by the Institute for Interdisciplinary Research on Conflict and Violence at the University of Bielefeld in Germany, released in December 2009, found that that 45.7% of the Europeans surveyed agree somewhat or strongly with the following statement: “Israel is conducting a war of extermination against the Palestinians.” And 37.4% agreed with this statement: “Considering Israel’s policy, I can understand why people do not like Jews.”
“[There is] quite a high level of anti-Semitism that is hidden beneath critics of Israel’s policies,” said Beate Kupper, one of the study’s principal researchers, in a telephone interview with the Forward, citing this data and a tendency to “blame Jews in general for Israel’s policies.”
Kupper said that in places where there is a strong taboo against expressions of anti-Semitism, such as Germany, “Criticism of Israel is a great way to express your anti-Semitism in an indirect way.”
A Chabad Rabbi’s Experience
Because he is the most visible Jew in Malmo, with his black fedora, tzitzit and long beard, Malmo’s only rabbi, Shneur Kesselman, 31, is a prime target for Muslim anti-Jewish sentiment. The Orthodox Chabad rabbi said that during his six years in the city, he has been the victim of more than 50 anti-Semitic incidents. An American, Kesselman is a soft spoken man with a steely determination to stay in Malmo despite the danger.
Two members of the American Embassy in Stockholm visited him in April to discuss his safety. From Keselman’s account, they had good reason to worry.
The rabbi recalled the day he was crossing a street near his house with his wife when a car suddenly went into reverse and sped backward toward them. They dodged the vehicle and barely made it to the other side of the street. “My wife was screaming,” the rabbi said. “It was a traumatic event.”
Weak Government Response
Many Jews fault Swedish police for not cracking down on anti-Semitism. Most hate crimes in Malmo are acts of vandalism, said Susanne Gosenius, head of the newly created hate crime unit of the Malmo Police Department These include painted swastikas on buildings. According to Gosenius, police do not give priority to this type of crime. “It’s very rare that police find the perpetrators,” she said. “Swedes don’t understand why swastikas are bad and how they offend Jews.” According to Gosenius, 30% of the hate crimes in the Malmo region are anti-Semitic.
Members of Parliament have attended anti-Israel rallies where the Israeli flag was burned while the flags of Hamas and Hezbollah were waved, and the rhetoric was often anti-Semitic—not just anti-Israel. But such public rhetoric is not branded hateful and denounced, said Henrik Bachner, a writer and professor of history at the University of Lund, near Malmo.
“Sweden is a microcosm of contemporary anti-Semitism,” said Charles Small, director of the Yale University Initiative for the Study of Anti-Semitism. “It’s a form of acquiescence to radical Islam, which is diametrically opposed to everything Sweden stands for.”
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The Rebbe is protecting them and looking after them. I’m sure you know that. In Eretz Yisrael it can be dangerous but the Rebbe said that Eretz Yisrael is the safest place in the world. They have the Rebbe’s Koichois! If you were a Shliach, you would not leave. There are Neshamos waiting to be lit out there! I am on Shlichus in a similar place…It is sometimes a bit scary but sometimes I feel proud of being who I am and no one will stop me from what I am doing! When they spit, scream, curse etc. It sometimes… Read more »
this is so nice
it’s real shluchim
keep up the good work
Kol Hakavod, real hassidim!
Kol Hakavod, real hassisim!
i appreciate your comparison to CH, which one can also argue is sakanas nefashos. I suppose being alive in this world is sakanas nefashos : ). However, there the Rebbe clearly stated that halachically it is forbidden to move. But as i asked, is there a precedent for the Rebbe insisting shluchim should go to places where it is sakanas nefashos (if theoretically sweden takeh is)? REgarding Tunisia, when mossad said it was dangerous and the community must move, the Rebbe said it was okay to stay. But without such a hoiraah, who are we to take such risks? You… Read more »
I have spent time in other states and in two foreign countries and did not see there the ingrained, consistent anti-semitism that was regularly conducted in Crown Heights whether by facial expressions, speech, or R”L, actions. May we experience the final Geulah now and merit to live among the refined and aidel of the world.
i would want to leave there either. it is very nice. i like
Perhaps you have a point, but i think the shliach “al asar” has other advisers… Perhaps you dont know the histroy of the CH community…
Did the Rebbe send people to places where it was sakanos nefashos? Maybe a shliach should move to Pakistan and Iran and Gaza?
Go rabbi and rebbitzen Kesselman, changing things for The better. – olu vehatzlichu!
Zalmenyu,
You were never one to back down (I love the words “steely determination”).
We’re praying for you and your family, only good things.
keep up the great work!
These are the Rebbes precious Kinderlach.
Go Shneur and Raizel, you guys are a true inspiration!
EVERY JEW A 22