American Jewish tourist hurt in anti-Semitic Berlin attack

A Jewish American tourist in Berlin was attacked and injured in an anti-Semitic attack, Berlin police said Wednesday.

The unnamed man, 23, was at a park around 9 p.m. near the corner of Rothenburg and Grunewaldstraße in the Steglitz district of the city when three men accosted him, police said in a statement posted on the Berlin Police website.

“The 23-year-old suffered a hematoma on the eye due to the blows in the face,” police said. They said he was attacked “because of his Jewish faith,” and opened a hate crimes investigation.

Police said the tourist filed a complaint after three men split off from a group of 10 people and started harassing him and asked if he was Jewish. When he replied yes, the men attacked him.

Park in the Steglitz district of Berlin near where a Jewish American tourist was attacked. (Google screen capture)

The attack was the third reported anti-Semitic incident in the past week in Germany. In Berlin, an Orthodox man wearing a kippa said he was subjected to anti-Semitic slurs Sunday by men who allegedly also tried to spit on him. An Orthodox rabbi was targeted Monday night in Dusseldorf by people who hurled anti-Semitic insults at him before he escaped into a community center.

In Berlin, the number of anti-Semitic incidents reported in recent months to police is about 14 percent higher than last year. One in five reported incidents has occurred in the nation’s capital, where 2018 saw a total of 1,083 cases.

In March, Berlin reportedly became the first state to adopt a new concept for anti-Semitism prevention. In addition, a federal and state commission for fighting anti-Semitism was established. Last year, the federal government appointed Felix Klein as commissioner dealing with anti-Semitism.