Interview with the newly elected anti-Semitism commissioner Professor Gert Pickel

Gert Pickel. Photo: Swen Reichhold/Universität Leipzig International Holocaust Remembrance Day is observed on 27 January. Anti-Semitic resentment has never really disappeared in Germany, it just often appears in a hidden form, explains Professor Gert Pickel of Leipzig University. He is the deputy spokesperson of the Competence Centre for Right-Wing Extremism and Democracy Research (KReDo) and the University's newly elected anti-Semitism commissioner. Newly elected anti-Semitism commissioner . Professor Gert Pickel was elected anti-Semitism commissioner for Leipzig University on 23 January 2024. The Leipzig University Senate decided in December 2023 in response to the increase in anti-Semitic incidents and discrimination in Germany as a whole, but also at universities in particular. "In this role, I primarily want to be a point of contact for Jewish students and staff at Leipzig University," says Pickel. "At the same time, I want to strengthen and advance the critical and differentiated debate on anti-Semitism at Leipzig University. This seems to me to be an important task for the University, especially in view of the continued existence of anti-Semitism as well as the revival of anti-Semitic resentment that can be seen in the public sphere." Interview: Anti-Semitism often disguises itself as something harmless . The Leipzig Authoritarianism Study regularly analyses how widespread anti-Semitic resentment is in Germany. Which population groups stand out and what developments have you observed in recent years?