Germany's Jewish Problem

A leading German–Jewish peace activist dissects Germany’s authoritarian crackdown after Gaza. Since October 2023, the Frankfurt-based Jewish composer and activist Wieland Hoban has traveled the globe rallying opposition to the Gaza genocide. Now, in an urgent collection of writings at once blistering and revelatory, Hoban unravels the cultural neuroses and political cynicism that have made Germany an outlier in its support for Israeli crimes. From German gentiles confidently charging Israeli Jewish expats with antisemitism, to the German state’s decades-long project to stifle free speech under the guise of combating “antisemitism,” to German officials mobilising their historical responsibility for one genocide to justify participating in another—Hoban guides us through the grotesqueries of German “memory culture” and shows their lethal consequences. As the chair of a German–Jewish peace group whose bank accounts were repeatedly frozen and whose members have been arrested on Gaza solidarity protests, Hoban is uniquely placed to expose the oddities and outrages of Germany’s authoritarian turn. He also warns that what begins in Germany doesn’t stay there. From sabotaging international support for a Gaza ceasefire, to deporting foreign nationals on political grounds, to spearheading censorship laws across the EU, Hoban’s diagnosis of German pathologies demonstrates where the ideological weaponisation of “antisemitism” can lead.