For months, local Jews have testified to an increasingly hostile atmosphere, with many saying they are frightened to go out on the streets wearing anything that might identify them as Jews. Earlier this year, Daniel Schwammenthal, writing in The Wall Street Journal, explained why in the starkest possible terms: “Screaming ‘Sieg Heil’ and ‘Hitler, Hitler,’ a mostly Muslim mob threw bottles and stones at a small group of Jews peacefully demonstrating for Israel at this town’s central square last year.
数月以来，当地的犹太人都感觉到周边的环境越来越充满敌意，许多人声称自己不敢身穿任何标示其犹太身份的服饰上街。而在年初，丹尼尔·施瓦门撒尔就在《华尔街日报》上用最直白的语言阐述了犹太人恐惧的原因——“去年，一伙高喊着‘Sieg Heil’(德文意为‘胜利’，法西斯分子见面时的用语)以及‘希特勒，希特勒’，主要由穆斯林组成的暴徒向在城市中央广场和平声援以色列的一小队犹太人投掷瓶子和石块，而那些到犹太教堂作礼拜的人，以及学校里的犹太孩子都经常被称之为‘臭犹太人’。”