#flensburg

by Ailin Vilches Arguello

A German Jewish woman was forced to remove her Star of David necklace at a security checkpoint before being permitted to enter a courtroom in northern Germany — where ironically a man was on trial for excluding Jews from his place of business.

The incident on Monday raised concerns over hostility toward Jews in public spaces, amid a wave of incidents in Germany and across Europe of people being denied access to places and services for being Jewish or Israeli.

On Monday, Keren Stopka was asked before entering the Flensburg District Court in the northern state of Schleswig-Holstein to remove her Star of David necklace so as not to “disrupt” the proceedings, in order to be allowed to observe the case.

“I had to remove my entire Star of David necklace and hand it over. I wasn’t even permitted to keep it under my shirt or in my pocket. I can’t remember the last time I took it off — it’s part of who I am,” Stopka told the German newspaper Bild.

In that courtroom, 60-year-old Hans-Velten Reisch was on trial for incitement to hatred after he hung an antisemitic sign on his second-hand shop last year that read: “Jews are not allowed to enter this place!!!”

Weltweit wird jährlich am 20. November allen trans* und genderqueeren Menschen gedacht, die aufgrund von Transfeindlichkeit ermordet wurden und Gewalt erfahren haben.