Almost half of Germans want a “closing line” under the Nazi past

A third of Germans have a bad image of Israel, while 46 percent of Germans have a good opinion of the Jewish state. On the other hand, Germany does very well among Israelis: almost two-thirds stated that they have a very or fairly good image of the Federal Republic. Only 19 percent of Israelis have a bad opinion of Germany.

These are the results of a study by the Bertelsmann Foundation published on Friday. In September last year, 1,271 Germans and 1,372 Israelis were interviewed for the representative survey. Pollytix Strategic Research GmbH took over the German part, New Wave Research the Israeli part. The Bertelsmann Foundation published the study shortly before the state visit by Israeli President Yitzchak Herzog on Sunday.

The attitude of the Germans towards their murderous history makes you sit up and take notice. Half (49 percent) want to “draw a line under the past” of the millions of Jews murdered by National Socialist Germany; only a third thinks that is wrong. Only 14 percent of the Israelis agree with the statement after a "line".

"On the one hand, this number is frightening, but on the other hand, it unfortunately reflects our perception," says Josef Schuster, President of the Central Council of Jews, with a view to the German "Schlussstrich" response. Schuster sees politics, educational institutions and civil society as having a duty to counteract these tendencies. “For the survivors and their descendants up to the third generation, the trauma is present every day. For them, a line is simply not possible, ”said Schuster to WELT.

The study shows that 57 percent of Israelis see Germany's historical guilt as a reason for current politics. You give Germany a “special responsibility for Israel”. 47 percent of Israelis see such an obligation for people fleeing war and persecution as a result of German history; only a third of Germans agree.

Moreover, Israelis do not feel sufficiently supported by German politicians. The results show that more than half of them expect more support for Israel in international politics from the German state, while only 22 percent of Germans agree. This becomes clear when looking at the Middle East conflict: Here, half of the Israelis expect concessions from the Palestinians, whereas the vast majority of Germans see both sides equally responsible.

The results also show that very few Germans have ever been to Israel. While 42 percent of the Israelis surveyed have already traveled to Germany, 93 percent of Germans have never been to the Jewish state. And this despite the fact that more than half of Germans indicate a moderate to strong interest in the Israeli state.

Anti-Semitic insults, graffiti and attacks - the hostility towards Jews has increased significantly. In Germany in 2021 there were an average of seven anti-Semitic incidents per day.

Source: WELT/ Alina Quast

The authors of the study, Jenny Hestermann, Roby Nathanson and Stephan Stetter, write that there is a tension here between the “political invocation of the close ties between the two countries” and the “actual expression of these contacts on a societal level”. In the case of Germans, one could speak of a “distant interest without striving for personal experience on site”.

"Anyone who only knows Israel from the news knows the country almost exclusively in connection with the Middle East conflict," says Schuster WELT. This also applies to school lessons. "A balanced picture of Israel as the only democracy in the Middle East is rarely conveyed," said Schuster. And this is the only way to develop empathy for the living conditions of the Israelis.

The President of the Central Council of Jews recalls the German-Israeli youth organization, which has been under discussion for years. Although this was decided by the Bundestag in 2018, not much progress has been made since then. "It would be an excellent opportunity to get to know the country and its people beyond the stories of conflict and crisis that often dominate discussions about Israel," Schuster told WELT. Schuster appealed to politicians to keep working on the "success story" of intensive German-Israeli relations.

The Bertelsmann Foundation study also reveals: A significant number of Germans take clear anti-Semitic positions in relation to Israel. More than a third of respondents agreed that Israel treated the Palestinians as the Nazis treated the Jews. And 21 percent of Germans stated that Israeli policies made them "appear more and more unsympathetic to the Jews."

A quarter of Germans think Jews have “too much influence in the world”. Striking here: According to the study, almost half of the AfD supporters agree with this statement. This coincides with other surveys that WELT reported on.

"The differences in mutual perception between Germans and Israelis are also the result of different security situations and different political cultures," says Stephan Vopel, Israel expert at the Bertelsmann Foundation, on the results. "For the vast majority of Germans, the maxim 'Never again war' still applies - for the Israelis it means 'Never again victims'."

"Kick-off Politics" is WELT's daily news podcast. The most important topic analyzed by WELT editors and the dates of the day. Subscribe to the podcast on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Amazon Music or directly via RSS feed.