Family has had a bitter experience welcome to the t w interview mr mccarthy. Mr mccarthy you felt forced to take your son out of a well regarded school in berlin why. He was reviled as a jew. You couldnt found out he was jewish they said we cant play with you anymore. He was increasingly hit and kicked. His hat was knocked off his head. But never let up and it culminated in very hard beatings fest he still has the remains of a huge bruise on his back. And the climax that led us to take him out of the school was a mock execution with a very real looking replica of a sign. That he was strangled in till he became unconscious. And how did his bullying start did your son wear a keeper. You know. He never said he was jewish until one day in ethics class. Teacher said were going to learn about the worlds major religions. Which houses of worship do you know about the People Church mosque church. Church. And he said synagogue. And the teacher said oh how do you know about synagogues are you a jew and he said yes thats when the antisemitic attacks began. Thats when this bullying was going on long before the pistol incident you contacted the School Administration how did they react. Well on the very first day when this began when the children said we wont play with you anymore we went to the administration and the teachers and said we urgently need to do something. We have to speak with the children. But the administration wasnt interested at all. Right from the beginning the social worker employed at the school didnt want to hear anything about it. On the contrary she accused my wife of being pushy and wanting to overpower her for the sake of it. She said just let it be that. The school is a member of the school against Racism Network where there are at least some courageous parents or other pupils who stood by you. Its got up. There were individual parents and individual schoolmates especially from this class. But they were powerless in the face of this ever increasing antisemitic bullying. This school against racism turned out to be a hollow slogan but the school still boasts about it even though my son says the School Playgrounds are full of racism against kurds against africans and of course against jews. One might think that more than seventy years after the holocaust what happened to your son is an extreme but isolated case. What is your experience been with antisemitism in germany in your work for Human Rights Watch. Well i wouldnt have thought that this was possible. But when it happened and we finally went public with it to exert pressure to change it and to start this debate. We learned that there are many many such cases and not just in berlin but also in frankfurt munich everywhere. And some people came to us and said that happened to us to the top they were afraid to go public with it for various reasons. We had Human Rights Watch had spent years researching hate crimes and right wing radicalism in germany and we published reports on a. Weve gone to the police and the courts so. Weve received a lot of encouragement from the Police Academies about the whole complex of problems. But it appears to have had no effect. At this but. Not. Quite the opposite in fact with the growth of the party and of right wing populism it seems to have become socially acceptable to say things that people didnt used to say. Maybe one side of the growth of right wing populism in germany and there has been an increase in the number of associated crimes and misdemeanors the ministry of the interior recorded six hundred eighty one such crimes in the first half of twenty seventeen substantially more than in twenty sixteen the perpetrators so far have mostly been right wing extremists just a large number of immigrants from muslim countries where the culture and education are hostile to jews influence this development. Of jesus i dont know whether it has an influence on this statistic. But it is obvious that it contributes to a general ongoing increase in anti semitism. When people come here from countries where they are taught right from kindergarten the jews are bad and were jew hatred is official policy and find then of course they bring their antisemitism with them. This is. The challenge to our society is to deal with that and to talk with and educate these are mostly young. And that requires action from the teachers thats afforded but there is none. Who tormented your son were muslims why werent they quickly suspended from school after these incidents. Suspended for. We were told that it is easy to suspend these children or to expel them from school. Buses although it would take a long time and theres many didnt want to do it. The one pupil who threatened him with the pistol was indeed expelled but the others are still running around there and enjoying their happy school life so to speak. The School Director went on to admit in interviews that he should have acted sooner. He regretted this but that what. Is nothing but its still a mystery to me why he didnt intervene immediately get tough and set boundaries. Because as it was there was nothing preventing any kind of attack in the school tolerated or ignored it. Jews are increasing the number of desecrations who grapes is increasing in berlin some of the stumbling stones the bronze plaques in memory of murdered jews have been torn out of the pavement. What do you have to say about this change of climate would you advise jews to appear in public with a star of david or a keeper. No its not a good idea if you dont feel that your faith requires you to wear one id say dont do my son wanted to wear a star of david around his neck. I said dont. Its dangerous to provoke attacks for what is. Right in front of the school my son went to a few years ago a rabbi was beaten up in front of his little daughter. Ford and he was wearing a kippah they had to make it look its hot. So its becoming more and more dangerous on the streets to wear visible signs that you were jewish this far from the president used to be a problem for our families. Really you are not religious and we dont walk around with a kept our go around saying were jews so you wouldnt say this meeting was so it was all the more surprising that this happened to my son tots columbines on down tough. Your son has transferred to another school his experience than. The us is a new school is very good its a small International School with highly dedicated international teachers. Things like that dont happen at all because as soon as a people goes too far the teachers talk openly with the parents and the children. Learn. And they do what the other school should have done. And you have so we considered sending him to a Jewish High School but we didnt want him to grow up in an exclusively jewish environment just to escape this terrible experience and. Thinks i was of. Is a negative. And the seeing how we decided on this other school and its been a good. But its regrettable that it was the victim who had to disappear from the earlier school. While the others continue to enjoy its advantages. It should have been the other way around. This is the development in germany as you illustrate with your own experience what do you as a representative of Human Rights Watch in germany expect from politics and the german government. What should be done to counter these growing anti semitism. Teachers need to be trained. The teachers have to be persuaded to take their profession seriously enough to intervene against these antisemitic incidents. But they can also be anti kurdish or anti homosexuals. And we have found out the things are flaring up in german schools that. The atmosphere is very aggressive and it seems the teachers dont know how to deal with it. And so we call on politics to train the teachers to offer the assistance needed and also that people talk to each other its. Needed that the schools talk with the parents and stop ducking away with excuses like oh you know you cant talk with these people or theyre muslims theyre stubborn. Thats and thats what the School Authority said when we said you need to talk with the parents of the School Administrator said thats useless. I mean mr makovsky we always conclude our interview with three in complete sentences that we ask you to finish. First had to be. Despite the bitter antisemitic experiences in germany my positive experience is. The solidarity of my colleagues and of people i know. But also of many people i dont know who have sent me handwritten letters telling me how shocked they were. And that they support us its like it was a distance im just its funny in my family leaving germany is. Only out of the question. We have to continue struggling and working to ensure that germany doesnt regress into a terrible anti semitism so it remains an open Democratic Society for my son also got i wish to say that hes never attacked in this way again vents im a confiscate thank you very much youre welcome to. The whole d w one up. For in so his Global Insights the news out for local heroes. W made for mines. I think theres a real need for journalists that people trust that can make sense of all this and can explain whats actually happening i became a journalist because i wanted to be a storyteller and i want to find those real authentic stories about everyday people who have something to share. Its not just about being fear or words or being neutral its about being truthful. I want to show that even though were all different there is an generosity condition that connects us so i want to give the Younger Generation a platform to express themselves freely we would a want to be and raise their questions