A shop owner in the northern German city of Flensburg ignited controversy on Wednesday after displaying a sign prohibiting Jews from entering his premises, drawing strong condemnation from state officials in Schleswig-Holstein.
Hans-Velten Reisch, the 60-year-old proprietor of a store selling Gothic utensils and technical literature, posted a notice which read: “Jews are banned from entering here! Nothing personal. No antisemitism. Just can’t stand you.”
Germany’s largest daily newspaper, Bild, reported on Thursday that Reisch defended his anti-Jewish sign, stating, “I watch the news every evening. And when I saw what the Jews were doing in the Gaza Strip, I lost my temper and printed out the poster.”
Israel launched a defensive war against the Hamas terrorist movement in Gaza after Hamas massacred over 1,200 people, including American citizens.
Reisch indicated that police instructed him on Wednesday evening to remove the poster.
Dorit Stenke, Schleswig-Holstein’s Minister of Culture, and Gerhard Ulrich, the state’s controversial antisemitism commissioner, publicly rebuked Reisch for his reported antisemitism, releasing a joint statement.
“A sign that denies Jews access to a store is a frightening signal and an attack on the principles of our free coexistence,” Stenke declared in the statement. She continued, “We cannot allow such things to continue in our society and must take decisive action against it together. Antisemitism is a threat to our democracy and must not be tolerated in any form.”
Ulrich, for his part, affirmed, “We must stand together against every form of antisemitism,” adding, “The fight against antisemitism is a special responsibility that we bear as Germans.”
The State Prosecutor has initiated an investigation against Reisch for incitement of hatred. Ulrich personally filed a criminal complaint for incitement of hatred against Reisch. According to Bild, a total of five criminal complaints have been filed against Reisch.
“Antisemitic hate speech like this not only hurts those affected, but also disrupts public peace. The Flensburg incident, with its contemptuous rhetoric, is fatally reminiscent of the Nazi hate speech against Jews,” Ulrich remarked.
State officials characterized the outbreak of anti-Jewish sentiment in Flensburg as another illustration of escalating antisemitism in Schleswig-Holstein. In 2024, 588 antisemitic incidents were recorded, representing a 390 percent increase compared to 2023.
However, Ulrich has faced accusations himself of contributing to anti-Jewish and anti-Israel sentiments during his previous tenure as the Protestant Church’s Bishop for northern Germany.
In December 2022, Rabbi Abraham Cooper, associate dean of the Los Angeles-based Simon Wiesenthal Center—a Jewish human rights organization named after the legendary Nazi hunter—criticized Ulrich’s alleged antisemitism. Cooper urged Schleswig-Holstein‘s government to dismiss Ulrich, claiming he “is unfit to denounce the very antisemitism that he unfortunately legitimized and helped to spread in the mainstream of German society.”
The former bishop has previously stated, “The name ‘Israel’ is burdened with the horror and misery of this Middle East war.” He also drew a comparison between Israel’s security fence and the now-defunct Berlin Wall, suggesting Israel needs to dismantle its barrier.
According to counter-terrorism officials in Israel, this anti-terrorist fence has saved the lives of thousands of Israelis from Palestinian terrorists originating from the West Bank (also known as the biblical region of Judea and Samaria).