“Once upon a time” – that is how fairy tales begin. The fairy tale that is being told in Berlin these days begins with the following lines: “Once upon a time there were Berlin university lecturers who saw it as part of their duty to protect their students.”
And as in every fairy tale, there is a grain of truth in this one too. Because the teachers who wrote this fairy tale are certainly trying to protect and support students. But all students? Or at least all those who urgently need their protection? And that is why fairy tales are fairy tales.
Jewish students have been saying for months that they are afraid at university and that they are experiencing anti-Semitism on a large scale. They are being subjected to physical violence and are considering dropping out of their studies or even quitting altogether. Why does this not alarm university lecturers in the same way?
Marginalized students do not consider the place where they study to be safe. Why are Jewish students not also clearly protected at the same time? Are they not supported and supported? Why can we accept that they may not be able to complete their studies – that they may remain unseen?
How can you meet someone at eye level when you can’t even see them?
Ten years ago it would have been easy to ignore Jewish students, but today they are so loud and so visible, expressing very clearly and in a well-organized way how great the suffering is for them at universities right now. What impact it has on them and their studies when protests do not remain peaceful but turn anti-Semitic.
“As teachers at Berlin universities, our self-image obliges us to accompany our students on an equal footing, but also to protect them…” is a fairy tale, because it is impossible to meet students on an equal footing if you do not see them, do not want to see them.
It is a fairy tale because Berlin teachers apparently do not see it as their job to protect students, but only certain students who fit their own self-image or their own political urgency. It is a fairy tale, and one of the most cruel ones – especially for the reality of Jewish students.