Being Jewish in Copenhagen after the 2015 synagogue attack

16 Jan 2017 - by Anna Greenberg

Anna Greenberg was one of the Danish participants in the international youth conference Stories that Move held in Berlin in September 2013. In 2015 she wrote to us from Copenhagen, sharing her thoughts and feelings after being in the Krystalgade synagogue when it was attacked and a security worker was shot dead. She shares her thoughts about identity and discrimination.

 Back in 2015, she wrote: On Saturday 14 February Dan Uzan was murdered outside the synagogue just after midnight. He was guarding the people inside the synagogue, who were celebrating a Bat-Mitzvah. A good-hearted and very special man lost his life. What we were all scared would happen, happened. The Jews in Denmark have known for a long time that we are a threatened minority. Now the rest of Denmark knows too. It is tragic that something so drastic made Denmark realise this. I hope that people will now see that you have to respect and be good to each other. I’m not angry, I’m sad. Anger is not the way. The only way is to understand what happened, and to make sure it will never happen again.

Now, almost two years after the attack, Anna contemplates her identity and discrimination for Stories that Move.

After the attack in February 2015, Danish people started to understand why it’s so important that the Jewish community has security; there is a general danger for us, a threat on our lives. But things have turned around, the newspapers started to write about how much we cost Denmark, for police protection and other things. As if we are the problem, instead of the violence against us. As if they forgot that somebody actually died because of this.

My necklace is a Magen David (Star of David). It is a symbol of Judaism, my religion. It will always remind me of who I am, where I come from, and what is most important in my life. I will no longer hide my Jewish identity like I did before. I now walk with my Star of David necklace and show who I am and how much the Jewish life means to me.