German city awards European unity prize to leading rabbi and continent’s Jewry
Aachen gives 2024 Charlemagne award to Rabbi Pinchas Goldschmidt and European Jewish communities to ‘send a signal that… there must be no place for antisemitism in Europe’
BERLIN — The German city of Aachen said on Friday it would award its 2024 Charlemagne prize to a leading rabbi and Jews in Europe, as antisemitism has surged there following the Hamas-led onslaught in southern Israel and subsequent war in Gaza.
The prize for efforts to foster European unity will go to Rabbi Pinchas Goldschmidt and “the Jewish communities of Europe,” the board of directors said.
They wanted to “send a signal that… there must be no place for antisemitism in Europe,” they said. Jewish life is “an important part of Europe’s history and present,” they added.
The directors said Goldschmidt had called for peace in Ukraine and Gaza, and had led a delegation of European rabbis to meet Pope Francis at the Vatican in November to discuss both the war between Israel and Hamas, and antisemitism in Europe.
Goldschmidt, 60, was chief rabbi of Moscow from 1993 to March 2022, when he went into self-imposed exile following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. After leaving Russia, he was branded a “foreign agent” by Moscow.
In Russia, he played a key role in developing social and political structures for the Jewish community after the fall of the Soviet Union.
He has been president of the Conference of European Rabbis (CER) since 2011.
Born in Switzerland, Goldschmidt studied and worked in Israel and the United States before moving to Russia in 1989 after being approached by several Jewish organizations dealing with Soviet Jewry, which sought his help in revitalizing Jewish religious life after seven decades of communist oppression.
Of the conflict in Ukraine, Goldschmidt has said he was “proud to be on the right side of history and to join the list of people who opposed this terrible war that has cost hundreds of thousands of lives.”
He also urged Russian Jews to leave the country, fearing they would be scapegoated for national hardships as the war in Ukraine dragged on.
According to the Charlemagne prize board, he said in November of the war in Gaza that the CER was in favor of peace and the right to self-determination of every people.
It quoted Goldschmidt as saying the CER hoped the civilian population suffered as little as possible from the war, and that Gaza should be administered by a Palestinian leader who had the backing of a community of Arab states.
The Charlemagne prize has been awarded since 1950 to people or institutions for outstanding services to Europe and European unification, and this year’s awards appeared to reflect the German government’s commitment to fighting antisemitism, which has risen sharply following the Israel-Hamas war.
Past recipients of the Charlemagne prize include Pope Francis and French President Emmanuel Macron.
Last year, the prize was awarded to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and the Ukrainian people.
This year’s prize will be awarded at a ceremony in Aachen in May.
