The German film industry was silent for a long time: After the cruel massacre that the terrorist organization Hamas carried out on Israeli civilians on October 7th, there were initially only isolated statements. While tens of thousands took to the streets to express their solidarity with the Palestinians, it initially seemed as if the otherwise opinionated filmmakers were cowering away.
The industry has now made up for this with a clear statement. In an open letter, more than 250 German-speaking filmmakers positioned themselves “against anti-Semitism, hatred of Jews and the relativization of crimes.” It is probably no coincidence that the paper, published on the anniversary of Kristallnacht, finds clear words about the “pogroms of October 7, 2023 and the murders and barbaric crimes of at least 1,400 civilians.”
The signatories are just as concerned about the situation in Germany as they are about Israel, where there have been “anti-Semitic attacks on Jewish people or institutions.” This doesn’t just mean the Muslim anti-Semitism that is currently spreading on the German streets.
The open letter also resolutely opposes anti-Semitism in academic discourse and in the cultural scene, “where it hides behind the mask of supposedly emancipatory discourses or deliberately appears vaguely as ‘anti-imperialism’ and ‘anti-capitalism’,” as the letter says. A clear demarcation from the so-called “Palestine Statement” that students at the Berlin Film School DFFB published and which called for “an end to the ethnic cleansing of the Palestinian people in Gaza and the West Bank.”
In contrast, the filmmakers of the open letter make it clear: “We stand in unconditional solidarity with all Jews in the world who are threatened with life and limb.” They fully support Israel’s right to exist and the right to self-defense guaranteed by the UN.
The 50 initial signatories include actresses such as Meret Becker, Christian Berkel, Andrea Sawatzky and Anna Brüggemann, as well as names of directors such as Dominik Graf, Caroline Link and Doris Dörrie. Other signatories include Iris Berben and her son Oliver Berben, Hanns Zischler, Inka Friedrich and Jessica Schwarz.
Sources: Open letter from 250 German filmmakers, statement from students at the German Film and Television Academy Berlin (dffb)
