Special Report from Amsterdam: anti-Semitism in 21st Century Europe

Walking around the picturesque canals of Amsterdam, one can see the modern side of this beautiful European city. However, the Dutch Capital is full of history, and is home to one of the darkest stories of all. Anne Frank.

Anne Frank is someone that the modern generation is sadly often less and less familiar with. Or what is even worse, they chose to be ignorant about it.

Amsterdam is perhaps one of the most multicultural cities in the world, and is full of people who were born outside of the Netherlands. In fact, about a third of the city's population today is foreign born. The city also has a very large Muslim population, compared to the 2% who consider themselves Jewish. 

And we all are familiar with the tensions among the two religious groups.

The situation really is worrying, and there is no clear solution. Society and humans should be embarrassed that only 70 years after the Nazis, we are returning to a similar set up. Have we not progressed enough? We must stop disembarking our own society, and work together and accept people as they are. The mass influx of immigrants should especially be respectful to the European and Jewish cultures, because if they won't accept them, then how can they expect the locals to integrate the outsiders into their daily life? If this is not happening, what hope is there left for the future? Is society doomed if we can't co-operate? It could very well be.

In Holland, recently there have been several high profile atrocities against Jews. Monuments and statues were defaced, people in Amersfoot were harassed and recently the commemorations to mark the 70th anniversary of the end of WWII were disrupted with anti-Semitic protestors and chants. The anti-Semitic atmosphere is also present in the mainstream Dutch politics, and with a rising population of immigrant backgrounds, it is not about to stop. These are worrying signs that matters are deteriorating.

On the other hand, the Anne Frank Museum provides a place to remember the atrocities of the past, and a vision of hope for the future. Something touches you inside when you are walking the same stairs on which Anne was hiding from the Nazis. It makes you sad that she had to go through this, but at the same time it makes you feel better and hopeful that it is not happening anymore.

Or at least we like to think so. Attacks and racist atrocities against people of Jewish heritage are on the rise all across the board. One sad example is the attacks in Paris in January of this year, when the gunmen specifically targeted a Jewish supermarket store.

In other parts of Europe that are outside of the Dutch Capital, anti-Semitism is sadly also very much present. Have they not gone through enough already? But what is even more worrying, is that it is increasingly happening from non-muslim perpetrators.

In Greece, the openly neo-nazi party of Golden Dawn has been steadily rising in the polls. Their rise echoes that of Hitler in Germany in the 1920's. When there is economic trouble, people often turn to radical parties, who often portray a certain group of people as the scapegoats. That group of people is often the Jews, and in recent years there have been severe economic troubles in Europe. The greek Jewish community too had recently suffered hate crimes, and are being forced to be ashamed of themselves and hide their beliefs from the public. Parties with similar agendas are on the rise in several other countries, mostly in the Balkans, but France and Belgium too. 

It leaves us to wonder what hope is there left for humanity and society if we can't all co-exist and co-operate. Not much. This issue seems like it will be hard to defeat, but in time it can be. Holland once again is trying to lead in this matter, with new initiatives at public schools. They will focus even more on cultural acceptance, multicultural societies and making sure that the mistakes and the tragedies of the past are taught to the new generation. Anti-Semitism can be defeated, and it should all be started with educating kids, the future generation. No one is born as a racist. Racism is taught. So if acceptance is taught to kids instead, things can CHANGE.

Visit the Anne Frank House's website for more information on extreme racism and what people can do to help: http://www.annefrank.org/en/Education/Monitor-Homepage/.

This is Part 1 of the new series: Europe in the 21st Century: Struggles and Solutions. Return for Part 2 which will be live from Marbella, Spain at the end of July. This is an original material of Finchley 1959.