After the Holocaust why is something like this even necessary?

[rogue06]

A program seeking to fight stereotypes by inviting some Germans to meet Jews for the first time, what the organizers describe as "giving Jews a face."

Source: Germany's 'Rent a Jew' Project Aims to Fight Anti-Semitism

An attention-grabbing German education project aims to promote cultural understanding and dialogue by offering face-to-face encounters with Jews.

Do you wish you knew a Jew? If so, you can now rent one.

That is the attention-grabbing idea behind a project that aims to promote cultural understanding and dialogue by offering face-to-face encounters with Jews living in Germany.

“We wanted to loosen things up a bit and remove reservations right from the start,” said 32-year old Alexander Rasumny, one of the initiative's organizers.

Amid the rise of far-right political parties and anti-Semitism across Europe, organizers believe the seminars provide an important chance to overcome prejudice and could serve “as a long-term prevention project."

The "rented" Jews are not professional speakers but volunteers of different ages and backgrounds who visit schools, universities and churches free of charge.

“With the direct encounters between Jews and non-Jewish citizens in Germany, far beyond the clichés and stereotypes, we are allowing people to speak with each other rather than about each other,” Rasumny said.

Germany is home to more than 200,000 Jews but most people in the country “have never met a Jew,” Rasumny said.

While the Holocaust and anti-Semitism are "important discussion points,” they are not at the center of the the project, Rasumny told NBC News.

“We want to talk about modern Jewish life in Germany in a relaxed atmosphere,” he explained.

In Germany alone, reports of anti-Semitic crimes have risen threefold in one year.

A spokeswoman for Germany's Justice Ministry said the department registered 2,083 cases of attacks on Jews or Jewish property and hate speech against Jews in 2015 — compared with 691 the previous year.

The number of violent offences motivated by right-wing extremism also rose significantly in 2015, with more than 1,400 registered crimes.

According to Germany’s domestic intelligence agency, BfV, this "clearly illustrates the threat posed by this spectrum.”

The "Rent-a-Jew" initiative was launched last year by a group of volunteers and now hosts sessions every two-to-three weeks across the country.

More than 50 people have signed up as contributors, most of them aged between 20 and 40.

“We have had nothing but positive feedback from our sessions,” Rasumny added



Source

© Copyright Original Source

Sounds like Denazification didn't exactly take if it is necessary for Germans to meet a real live Jewish person for the first time.

[Maranatha]

A program seeking to fight stereotypes by inviting some Germans to meet Jews for the first time, what the organizers describe as "giving Jews a face."

Source: Germany's 'Rent a Jew' Project Aims to Fight Anti-Semitism

An attention-grabbing German education project aims to promote cultural understanding and dialogue by offering face-to-face encounters with Jews.

Do you wish you knew a Jew? If so, you can now rent one.

That is the attention-grabbing idea behind a project that aims to promote cultural understanding and dialogue by offering face-to-face encounters with Jews living in Germany.

“We wanted to loosen things up a bit and remove reservations right from the start,” said 32-year old Alexander Rasumny, one of the initiative's organizers.

Amid the rise of far-right political parties and anti-Semitism across Europe, organizers believe the seminars provide an important chance to overcome prejudice and could serve “as a long-term prevention project."

The "rented" Jews are not professional speakers but volunteers of different ages and backgrounds who visit schools, universities and churches free of charge.

“With the direct encounters between Jews and non-Jewish citizens in Germany, far beyond the clichés and stereotypes, we are allowing people to speak with each other rather than about each other,” Rasumny said.

Germany is home to more than 200,000 Jews but most people in the country “have never met a Jew,” Rasumny said.

While the Holocaust and anti-Semitism are "important discussion points,” they are not at the center of the the project, Rasumny told NBC News.

“We want to talk about modern Jewish life in Germany in a relaxed atmosphere,” he explained.

In Germany alone, reports of anti-Semitic crimes have risen threefold in one year.

A spokeswoman for Germany's Justice Ministry said the department registered 2,083 cases of attacks on Jews or Jewish property and hate speech against Jews in 2015 — compared with 691 the previous year.

The number of violent offences motivated by right-wing extremism also rose significantly in 2015, with more than 1,400 registered crimes.

According to Germany’s domestic intelligence agency, BfV, this "clearly illustrates the threat posed by this spectrum.”

The "Rent-a-Jew" initiative was launched last year by a group of volunteers and now hosts sessions every two-to-three weeks across the country.

More than 50 people have signed up as contributors, most of them aged between 20 and 40.

“We have had nothing but positive feedback from our sessions,” Rasumny added



Source

© Copyright Original Source

Sounds like Denazification didn't exactly take if it is necessary for Germans to meet a real live Jewish person for the first time.

Again, not an article from the Onion.

Rent-a-Jew sounds a lot better than what they've got in the past in Germany.

[rogue06]

This just seems bizarre

[CivilDiscourse]

A program seeking to fight stereotypes by inviting some Germans to meet Jews for the first time, what the organizers describe as "giving Jews a face."

Source: Germany's 'Rent a Jew' Project Aims to Fight Anti-Semitism

An attention-grabbing German education project aims to promote cultural understanding and dialogue by offering face-to-face encounters with Jews.

Do you wish you knew a Jew? If so, you can now rent one.

That is the attention-grabbing idea behind a project that aims to promote cultural understanding and dialogue by offering face-to-face encounters with Jews living in Germany.

“We wanted to loosen things up a bit and remove reservations right from the start,” said 32-year old Alexander Rasumny, one of the initiative's organizers.

Amid the rise of far-right political parties and anti-Semitism across Europe, organizers believe the seminars provide an important chance to overcome prejudice and could serve “as a long-term prevention project."

The "rented" Jews are not professional speakers but volunteers of different ages and backgrounds who visit schools, universities and churches free of charge.

“With the direct encounters between Jews and non-Jewish citizens in Germany, far beyond the clichés and stereotypes, we are allowing people to speak with each other rather than about each other,” Rasumny said.

Germany is home to more than 200,000 Jews but most people in the country “have never met a Jew,” Rasumny said.

While the Holocaust and anti-Semitism are "important discussion points,” they are not at the center of the the project, Rasumny told NBC News.

“We want to talk about modern Jewish life in Germany in a relaxed atmosphere,” he explained.

In Germany alone, reports of anti-Semitic crimes have risen threefold in one year.

A spokeswoman for Germany's Justice Ministry said the department registered 2,083 cases of attacks on Jews or Jewish property and hate speech against Jews in 2015 — compared with 691 the previous year.

The number of violent offences motivated by right-wing extremism also rose significantly in 2015, with more than 1,400 registered crimes.

According to Germany’s domestic intelligence agency, BfV, this "clearly illustrates the threat posed by this spectrum.”

The "Rent-a-Jew" initiative was launched last year by a group of volunteers and now hosts sessions every two-to-three weeks across the country.

More than 50 people have signed up as contributors, most of them aged between 20 and 40.

“We have had nothing but positive feedback from our sessions,” Rasumny added



Source

© Copyright Original Source

Sounds like Denazification didn't exactly take if it is necessary for Germans to meet a real live Jewish person for the first time.

I'm going to defend Germany a little bit here. There's 200k Jews, out of 83,000,000 people. That's a population percentage of 0.2%. That means only 2 out of every 1000 people in the country is Jewish. So, it's entirely reasonable that many Germans don't meaningfully interact with Jews in Germany. With little interaction with a group, it becomes easier to fall back onto stereotypes about that group.

[tabibito]

I'm going to defend Germany a little bit here. There's 200k Jews, out of 83,000,000 people. That's a population percentage of 0.2%. That means only 2 out of every 1000 people in the country is Jewish. So, it's entirely reasonable that many Germans don't meaningfully interact with Jews in Germany. With little interaction with a group, it becomes easier to fall back onto stereotypes about that group.

“With the direct encounters between Jews and non-Jewish citizens in Germany, far beyond the clichés and stereotypes, we are allowing people to speak with each other rather than about each other,” Rasumny said.

It seems a good way to begin reasonable dialogue.

[Roy]

A program seeking to fight stereotypes by inviting some Germans to meet Jews for the first time, what the organizers describe as "giving Jews a face."

It's necessary because there are so few Jews in Germany now that many Germans are unfamiliar with them.

Though I suspect that's not what you meant to ask.

[Roy]

I'm going to defend Germany a little bit here. There's 200k Jews, out of 83,000,000 people.

That's fine until you consider why
there are so few Jews in Germany.

[CivilDiscourse]

That's fine until you consider why
there are so few Jews in Germany.

I understand that.

[Hypatia_Alexandria]

A program seeking to fight stereotypes by inviting some Germans to meet Jews for the first time, what the organizers describe as "giving Jews a face."

Source: Germany's 'Rent a Jew' Project Aims to Fight Anti-Semitism

An attention-grabbing German education project aims to promote cultural understanding and dialogue by offering face-to-face encounters with Jews.

Do you wish you knew a Jew? If so, you can now rent one.

That is the attention-grabbing idea behind a project that aims to promote cultural understanding and dialogue by offering face-to-face encounters with Jews living in Germany.

“We wanted to loosen things up a bit and remove reservations right from the start,” said 32-year old Alexander Rasumny, one of the initiative's organizers.

Amid the rise of far-right political parties and anti-Semitism across Europe, organizers believe the seminars provide an important chance to overcome prejudice and could serve “as a long-term prevention project."

The "rented" Jews are not professional speakers but volunteers of different ages and backgrounds who visit schools, universities and churches free of charge.

“With the direct encounters between Jews and non-Jewish citizens in Germany, far beyond the clichés and stereotypes, we are allowing people to speak with each other rather than about each other,” Rasumny said.

Germany is home to more than 200,000 Jews but most people in the country “have never met a Jew,” Rasumny said.

While the Holocaust and anti-Semitism are "important discussion points,” they are not at the center of the the project, Rasumny told NBC News.

“We want to talk about modern Jewish life in Germany in a relaxed atmosphere,” he explained.

In Germany alone, reports of anti-Semitic crimes have risen threefold in one year.

A spokeswoman for Germany's Justice Ministry said the department registered 2,083 cases of attacks on Jews or Jewish property and hate speech against Jews in 2015 — compared with 691 the previous year.

The number of violent offences motivated by right-wing extremism also rose significantly in 2015, with more than 1,400 registered crimes.

According to Germany’s domestic intelligence agency, BfV, this "clearly illustrates the threat posed by this spectrum.”

The "Rent-a-Jew" initiative was launched last year by a group of volunteers and now hosts sessions every two-to-three weeks across the country.

More than 50 people have signed up as contributors, most of them aged between 20 and 40.

“We have had nothing but positive feedback from our sessions,” Rasumny added



Source

© Copyright Original Source

Sounds like Denazification didn't exactly take if it is necessary for Germans to meet a real live Jewish person for the first time.

Anti-Semitism is on the rise throughout Europe. Perhaps the French and the Poles should do likewise.

[rogue06]

I'm going to defend Germany a little bit here. There's 200k Jews, out of 83,000,000 people. That's a population percentage of 0.2%. That means only 2 out of every 1000 people in the country is Jewish. So, it's entirely reasonable that many Germans don't meaningfully interact with Jews in Germany. With little interaction with a group, it becomes easier to fall back onto stereotypes about that group.

It just seems so... otherworldly.

It reminds me of pictures I saw awhile ago of a black man who set a small booth in Asia (Tokyo I think) -- the same sort that Lucy sits at in the comic Peanuts when she dispenses psychiatric advise for a nickel. Attached to it was a sign that read "Meet a real black person" and there were all these pictures of him standing there with what were usually older Asian couples. In every picture they all have big smiles or laughing -- obviously having a great time...

I guess when you live in a country with a very diverse population it just seems strange to see this sort of thing. And maybe those who live in incredibly ethnically homogenous countries really can't comprehend what that's like.

I couldn't find any pictures of that instance but I found the same
thing in Aspen, Colorado which has a black population of 0.44%
hqdefault.jpg

[rogue06]

It's necessary because there are so few Jews in Germany now that many Germans are unfamiliar with them.

Though I suspect that's not what you meant to ask.

I suspect that you suspect wrong.

[Cow Poke]

That's fine until you consider why
there are so few Jews in Germany.

Because everybody has to be somewhere,
and that's where they are?

[Hypatia_Alexandria]

It just seems so... otherworldly.

It reminds me of pictures I saw awhile ago of a black man who set a small booth in Asia (Tokyo I think) -- the same sort that Lucy sits at in the comic Peanuts when she dispenses psychiatric advise for a nickel. Attached to it was a sign that read "Meet a real black person" and there were all these pictures of him standing there with what were usually older Asian couples. In every picture they all have big smiles or laughing -- obviously having a great time...

I guess when you live in a country with a very diverse population it just seems strange to see this sort of thing. And maybe those who live in incredibly ethnically homogenous countries really can't comprehend what that's like.

I couldn't find any pictures of that instance but I found the same
thing in Aspen, Colorado which has a black population of 0.44%
hqdefault.jpg

I could offer anecdotal evidence of some friends who took their three year blonde, blue-eyed twins with them to Malawi. Villagers were fascinated by these two children.

[Cow Poke]

I could offer anecdotal evidence of some friends who took their three year blonde, blue-eyed twins with them to Malawi. Villagers were fascinated by these two children.

When we took our red-headed daughter to Mexico, the locals were fascinated by her "flaming red hair" and kept wanting to touch it.

(by the way, we brought her back home, too)

[rogue06]

I could offer anecdotal evidence of some friends who took their three year blonde, blue-eyed twins with them to Malawi. Villagers were fascinated by these two children.

Similar to accounts from some blacks who went to Vietnam. Not so much in the cities but out in the sticks.