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Expropriate Now! Open Letter in Support of Deutsche Wohnen & Co Enteignen

Fridays for Future, teachers’ union and others call for quick implementation of housing referendum

The Left Berlin
20/11/2021

Regarding the Coalition talks around rent, the Initiative Deutsche Wohnen & Co Enteignen calls on the Green Party leader Bettina Jarasch to take the vote of more than one million Berliners seriously – and to make implementation of the referendum a condition of any coalition agreement.

“Frau Jarasch must be clear: socialization is no ultima ratio, but a binding decision by more than a million voters. The Green party basis has a clear position on this. Jarasch must now show which side she is on: for a democratic, quick implementation of the referendum – or for an undemocratic politics of delay on behalf of the real estate lobby”, said Moheb Shafaqyar, speaker for the initiative.

The breadth of the social support for the socialisation of housing space is seen in an open letter from Berlin’s civil society. In the open letter Fridays for future, the teachers’ union GEW and over40 more organisations call for the implementation of the referendum.

This open letter first appeared in German on the Deutsche Wohnen & Co Enteignen website. Here is an English translation. Organisations and individuals who want to sign the petition should send an e-mail to aufruf@volksentscheid-umsetzen.de. DWE would appreciate it if you can circulate the call in your networks.

Deutsche Wohnen & Co Enteignen Open Letter

The result of the referendum on September 26th was clear: more than 1 million Berliners voted YES in favor of the expropriation of property owned by the biggest profit-oriented real estate companies.

We call on all democratic parties in the Berlin parliament to participate constructively in writing a draft law for this expropriation, based on article 15 of our constitution.

We call on the parties forming the government to include the following binding phrases in the coalition treaty:

The coalition will do everything possible to implement the referendum in the coming legislative period. A working group will be established in the first or second quarter of 2022 in order to draft a law regulating the transformation of real estate into common property. The working group will consist of representatives of the initiative “Deutsche Wohnen und Co. enteignen”, other organizations focused on the rent crisis (“mietenpolitische Initiativen”), organizations of tenants, experts from politics, unions and science, as well as other representatives of the Berlin population (“Stadtgesellschaft”). The law will encompass the following main points:

1. Private profit-oriented real estate companies owning more than 3000 apartments in Berlin will be expropriated based on article 15 of the constitution, in order to transform their real estate property into common property. Cooperatives will not be expropriated.

2. The companies in question will be compensated well below market value.

3. A public-law institution will be founded for the administration of the real estate property. The statute will include a passage prohibiting the privatization of institutions of the real estate property.

4. The public-law institution will administer the real estate property based on the democratic participation of the Berlin population, the tenants, the employees and the Berlin government.

First Signatories:

100% Tempelhofer Feld

#200Häuser

23 Häuser sagen NEIN!

AG Gesetz Mietenvolksentscheid

Areal Ratiborstr. 14 e.V.

Aufstehen Berlin – AG Wohnen

Autofreier Wrangelkiez Berlin

Bauhütte Kreuzberg e.V.

Berlin vs. Amazon (No Amazon Tower)

Berliner Obdachlosenhilfe

Bizim Kiez

Bucht für Alle

BUND Jugend Berlin

Bündnis kommunal und selbstverwaltet Wohnen (kusWo)

Bündnis Mieterprotest Kosmosviertel

Bürgerinitiative Stuttgarter Platz

BVV-Fraktion von Bündnis 90/Die Grünen Friedrichshain-Kreuzberg

Democratic Socialists of America Berlin

DIDF – Föderation Demokratischer Arbeitervereine e.V.

Eine für Alle eG

Fridays for Future Berlin

GEW Berlin

GloReiche Nachbarschaft

GRÜNE JUGEND Berlin-Ost

Initiative Haus der Statistik

Initiative Hermannplatz

Initiative Schwarze Menschen in Deutschland (ISD) Berlin

Initiative Volksentscheid Berlin autofrei

Izquierda Unida Berlín

Kulturhof Koloniestr. 10 e.V. i.G.

Lause bleibt!

MieterWerkStadt Charlottenburg

Netzwerk Berliner Mietshäusersyndikats-Initiativen

openBerlin e.V.

OraNostra

Republikanischer Anwältinnen- und Anwälteverein e.V. (RAV)

S-Bahn für alle

Sozialbündnis Alt-Treptow

Stadt von Unten

The LINKE Berlin LAG Internationals

Transformation Haus & Feld

Trans*Sexworks

Volksbegehren Berlin 2030 klimaneutral

Wohnungslosen_Stiftung

ZUsammenKUNFT eG

An identity in exile

Why Western Sahara matters. Experiences from Africa’s last colony

Emma Lehbib
18/11/2021

My name is Emma Lehbib, I am nineteen years old and grew up in Germany. I study International and European Law at the University of Groningen. Currently, I am member of the Sahrawi Diaspora in Germany which was founded after the war broke out. In this one year, we have organized three demonstrations and several online events, run Social Media as well as a Youtube Channel, done charity work and are ambitious to do more in the future. Besides this, I am involved in other work related to the Sahrawi cause.

I am the daughter of Sahrawi parents. Sahrawis are indigenous to the territory of Western Sahara, Africa‘s last colony. Until 1975, Western Sahara was a Spanish colony. During that rule, the liberation movement led by The Polisario Front was active against the colonizers. However, when Spain withdrew, it made an illegal accord with Morocco and Mauritania splitting our country between these two states. This led to war between the Polisario and the two invading powers. Hundreds of thousands fled to a desert near Tindouf, Algeria. In 1976, Mauritania was quickly defeated and in the same year, the Polisario declared the establishment of the Sahrawi Arabic Democratic Republic (SADR). The war against Morocco continued until a ceasefire was mediated in 1991. The condition for that ceasefire was the holding of a referendum, in which the Sahrawi people decide upon their destiny. Thirty years later, the referendum has not been held. Last year, the Polisario restarted the armed struggle after Morocco’s violation of the ceasefire.

Today one part of my family lives in the occupied zone, another part in the refugee camps in Algeria and another part in the diaspora.

The refugee camps

Since I can remember, we always visited my grandmother, aunts and cousins in the refugee camps situated in the West of Algeria. The camps are in a desert. The Sahrawi live in mud houses and tents called Kheima. Now, some have been building brick houses after heavy rains in the past years destroyed the dwellings, to adapt to the extreme weather conditions caused by climate change. Only a minority is able to afford this. The changing climate results in many issues and the situation is worsening. During the summer time, the temperature may rise up to 50 degrees Celsius. At night, temperatures can drop to 0 degrees Celsius. Agriculture is close to impossible. The refugees depend on imports and international help. Despite the difficult circumstances in the desert, the Polisario was able to organize a society there. They have developed an infrastructure providing, for example, good education, health services and electricity for all.

Because we have no extended family in Germany, being in the camps was, and still is, the most treasured of memories. Being there as a child, I absolutely loved it: running in the endless desert, feeding my grandma’s goats, playing with my cousins, drinking Sahrawi tea, listening to my aunt’s storytelling, praying with my great-grandmother. I still love being there but as I grew older, I became aware how unjust the situation is. How it is contrary to our people’s right to self-determination. How they were abandoned by the international community. How difficult the living conditions are – especially knowing the potential and richness of our own homeland.

Visiting my grandmother in the camps deepened my appreciation of my privileges in Europe and especially in Germany. It is my obligation to be active and somehow contribute to the solution of our issue.

Since the outbreak of the pandemic, we could not visit our family there. Thankfully, they were not extremely affected and many are vaccinated by now. Hopefully, we will travel there this or next year.

The occupied zone of Western Sahara

In 2008, my family and I visited for the first and last time the occupied part of Western Sahara. We drove from Northern Germany down to Spain and then took a ship to Morocco. From there, we continued our drive south to the biggest city in Western Sahara, Laayoune – also referred to as SADR’s capital city. I was just six years old but it is a memory that has always stayed with me to this day.

I remember the amazing food: sweets, couscous, fresh vegetables and fish.

I remember the incredible landscapes: deserts, cliffs, Atlantic sea.

I remember the beautiful moments: seeing family members for the first time, Sahrawi tea at the beach, surfing with tourists, playing with cousins and so much more.

For me the time there was precious. Yet I never felt completely safe. Everywhere, I saw Moroccan flags, never SADR’s. I knew that we should watch what we say. That there can always be some kind of surveillance by Moroccan forces or locals. My task was to not attract any unwanted attention. Being there was also sad because I could see everything that my cousins in the camps have never been able to witness. All that our homeland has to offer but our people have been denied.

This trip remains the last one to the occupied zone. Now it would be either impossible or dangerous to go there. It could be that Morocco denies me to enter my home country or if they let me in, anything could happen during that stay. The Moroccan authorities observe and spy on Sahrawi activists. I can only go back home again once we have have held our referendum and gained our independence as recognized by international law.

Life in exile

The reason it hard for us to travel there again, is the activism of my parents. When we moved to Bremen in that same year, my parents started to network with solidarity groups, supporters of Sahrawi cause and experts here. Shortly after, the association “Freiheit für die Westsahara” was established. In that context, a thanks goes out to all of our supporters who have helped and continue to do so throughout, especially to our family friend Gunther Hilliges. On weekends, events were organized. My siblings and I were always brought to the them, and we would see our parents passionately talking about the Sahrawi cause and being interviewed by newspapers or a local TV channel.

At home the topic was always present. On evenings, there were bad quality Skype video calls with family members living thousands of kilometers away. Due to the Moroccan occupation, there are some family members I have only seen once in my life and that was in 2008, when I was only six years old. Others I could only meet outside Western Sahara, for example in Spain. This is the reality of the Sahrawi people. We live divided, a reality that many Germans can comprehend. Just that we continue to live this through every single day for decades. Further, I remember my father always watching the news regarding the issue – every day and night. It is one of the first things he would do after coming back from work. When I would google “Western Sahara” or look onto the computer of my father as he was researching, I saw endless images of Sahrawi adults and children with bruises, black eyes, marks of torture and more. It was devastating to look at but it is the cruel reality of our people in the occupied Western Sahara.

I remember the day when the best known Sahrawi human rights activist, Aminatou Haidar, visited us to receive the Bremen Solidarity Prize in 2013. Her incredible persona was honored by, inter alia, the Right Livelihood Award in 2019. During an evening, she came by to have dinner and tea with us. I must have been 11 years old and was sitting next to my mother. I had heard about her life story. Haidar was just talking, and my mother and I suddenly had tears in our eyes.

When I was 12 years old, I hosted a little activity in the framework of an African Day at a Museum in Bremen. I held a presentation on the Refugee Camps for other children and showed them the games I knew from my time in the camps. We had brought sand, stones and sticks to play with.

Whenever someone asks about my origins, most of the time I don’t simply say “I am from Western Sahara”. It is always followed by a two minute lecture on the situation. I am used to being unknown to people – at least in Germany. As if we don’t exist, as if our cause does not exist. Despite the fact that there are German companies such as Siemens or HeidelbergCement pursuing economic activities in the occupied zone, even though they neither have the consent of the Sahrawis nor has Morocco the sovereignty over the territory there. Feeling invisible is frustrating but the problem lies with mass media outlets that don’t cover the situation enough. It just shows that there is a lot of work to be done in Germany. We need to work together with other solidarity groups and movements and thereby, uplift each other.

It is these impressions, experiences and my family that make me Sahrawi, even though I am forced to live in exile. I know we will one day return to our homeland. My grandmother will see her home town again. Families will be reunited. Our children will grow up there. So even though most of us have never seen our home country, we fight for it as much as our parents, grandparents and their parents did and still do. An essential part of the Sahrawi identity is the struggle for freedom. It makes every Sahrawi a representative for our cause.

This story I am writing is the reality of the Sahrawi youth in exile. It is probably a story that many people of diaspora groups can tell you.

This is why I believe our cause, the Sahrawi cause, is the world’s cause.

Because we can never be free until each and every one of us is free.

Good COP bad COP

COP26 and the lessons for the left

Mike Hembury
17/11/2021

The 26^th world climate summit (aka “Conference of the Parties”) COP26 has been and gone. In the runup, UN General Secretary Antonio Guterres set the bar for action high, by referring to the current crisis as “code red for humanity”, the moment when politicians of all stripes should finally recognize the severity of the climate catastrophe facing the planet and initiate measures commensurate to the threat.

“The climate action struggle requires all hands on deck. It is everyone’s responsibility. Every country, every city, every company, every financial institution must radically, credibly and verifiably reduce their emissions and decarbonize their portfolios starting now.”

One of the most common metaphors from climate activists right now is that of putting the world on a wartime footing, citing the emergency economic transformations that took place during WWII as a model for the kind of change we currently need. The consensus from the both the climate movement and the scientific community is that if we want to stand a chance of keeping global temperature rises below 1.5°C, we need to act now, and we need to act boldly.

So did COP26 deliver? Can we breathe easier in our beds, now that a hellish future of 3° or more of warming has been averted?

In spite of a flurry of greenwashing at both the start and finish of the conference, the answer has to be a resounding no.

Not only did the majority of world governments stick to outdatedly incremental models of change – with India promising to “phase down” coal by 2070, or 100 countries signing up to a pledge to cut methane emissions by 30% by 2030 – they also refused to substantially address the broader issue of the remaining fossil fuel industry. Indeed, they even managed to undercut their own propaganda by agreeing to further fossil fuel projects both during and immediately after the conference. Biden, for instance, managed to effectively trash his “climate leadership” claim by allowing the US Department of the Interior to sell off leases to up 80 million acres of offshore territory in the Gulf of Mexico for oil and gas drilling, the contents of which have been called a “carbon bomb” by climate activists. Similarly, Britain continues to pursue its North Sea Cambo oilfield project, and the EU also recently voted to continue subsidies to gas pipelines until 2027. Indeed, Germany alone continues to pay 178 million euros a day in subsidies for coal, oil and gas.

Even if the signatories to the final COP26 declaration actually were to implement all the good intentions they lay claim to, the world would still smash through the 1.5° mark sometime toward the end of this decade, on our way to a projected 2.4° of warming. Yet given their track record so far, with CO2 emissions of a quarter of a trillion tonnes since the Paris Agreement in 2015 and still increasing, we have no reason at all for optimism.

Former Irish President and UN Commissioner Mary Robinson put it like this:

“Cop26 has made some progress, but nowhere near enough to avoid climate disaster. While millions around the world are already in crisis, not enough leaders came to Glasgow with a crisis mindset. People will see this as a historically shameful dereliction of duty.”

Cop26 chair Alok Sharma even fought back tears while making an unprecedented public apology “for the way the process has unfolded”. “I am deeply sorry” he said.

War on Want’s Asad Rehman was more direct in his condemnation:
“The richest have ignored every moral and political call to do their fair share. Their broken promises are littered across 26 Cops. Empty press releases drafted by polluting companies no longer fool anyone… whilst we are frustrated and angry, we are not without hope. We know it’s ordinary people who change history, and we will change history. The era of injustice is over…”

And of course the most succinct description came from Greta Thunberg, who called Cop26 simply “a failure”.

So what are the real takeaways from COP26 for the left, and for movements for climate and social justice?

The first is that this is now a real fight for survival. We all need to redouble our efforts to spread resistance to this absolutely ecocidal, crazily suicidal system. As ecological feedback loops such as Arctic melting and rainforest destruction continue unabated, this is no time for tinkering round the edges. We need to step up with mass resistance, and mass grassroots mobilisation. As veteran environmentalist George Monbiot put it:

“Now we have no choice but to raise the scale of civil disobedience until we have built the greatest mass movement in history. We do not consent to the destruction of our life support systems”.

The second is that links are finally beginning to be formed between the climate movement and the working class. A highlight at the 100,000-strong climate demonstration in Glasgow was the presence of striking refuse workers, and the discussions subsequently engendered on the links between social and climate justice under capitalism. In fact, this is going to have to be the major lesson for the left. We have to continue, or start, making the case for climate justice, emergency climate action and climate strike in our workplaces, unis, unions, tenants associations, neighbourhood forums and political organisations. Without genuine workers’ participation, civil disobedience will likely remain at the level of containable protest. It is only with the element of strike action that we will be able to stop the process of ecocidal capitalist accumulation in its tracks and start to consider alternative and democratic forms of production to fulfil social and planetary needs.

On the crest of the last wave of climate protest, the school students’ organisation Fridays for Future managed to mobilise millions of demonstrators with a call for a global climate strike, with significant participation by workers and trade unionists around the world. Since then, strike calls have been a hit and miss affair, due, in large part, to a lack of preparation, and a lack of real organisational roots within the working class. This surely, has to be the task of the left within the climate movement, and the broader left’s response to the climate movement, i.e. to take the struggle for environmental survival into the organisations of the working class and the oppressed, to make the case for ecological self-defence, and to turn climate protest into a generalised climate strike.

In terms of demands, I think there are a number of key points that we should be raising.

Firstly, we need to call for emergency climate action: all fossil fuel subsidies need to cease immediately, and there needs to be a massive expansion of alternative energy projects. Fossil fuel companies must be brought into public ownership and decommissioned. Workers in such companies need guaranteed jobs in alternative industries as part of a planned Just Transition. Car industry and aviation subsidies need to be reallocated to rail and public transport, and public transport needs to be made freely available as a way of driving down emissions.

Secondly, we need to build the global climate strike, not as a one-off protest, but as a general strike. As one internet commentator put it: “At some point we’ll have to face the fact that politely asking the ruling class to stop climate destruction is not going to work”. We need to make it clear to anyone who will listen that we must take the issue of human survival into our own hands. Business as usual means the end of a liveable planet. It’s as simple as that. This means raising the issue in your workplace, securing support for climate action, passing resolutions to that effect, making sure that your own local, regional and national organisations take a stand and commit to action.

This is the only way forward now. We need to act like our lives are at stake.

Because they are.

“I am an activist in parliament”

The anti-fascist Ferat Kocak was the victim of a right wing arson attack. Now he is sitting for die LINKE in the Berlin parliament.

Erik Peter
16/11/2021

taz: Mr. Kocak, you have spoken out against a coalition with the SPD and the Greens, but the coalition talks are continuing. Are you already regretting standing for parliament?

Ferat Kocak: No, quite the opposite. I can now defend my position in parliament. I want to be the voice of social movements, to give them space and to make my resources available to them. That means that I will now meet again with DW Enteignen treffe, with the hospital and climate movements and anti-racist initiatives to talk with them about their minimum demands for coalition talks. If we understand ourselves as a party which makes politics for and with the movements, we must know them.

What is the argument against joining a government?

We are only the third force, we’ve lost percentage points and we have not received a mandate. In the discussion paper [between the SPD, Greens and LINKE] I recognize above all the handwriting of [Berlin SPD leader] Franziska Giffey, and little from die LINKE, little radical politics. A traffic light coalition [SPD, Green, FDP] would not have produced a radically different paper. If this is the basis for coalition talks, we should not have any fear of going into opposition.

What would be better then?

Then we wouldn’t have to hold back on our criticism of the SPD and Greens and could win much better social movements for us. I want to say to voters: “Vote us and we will fight together”. Not “Vote us and we will govern for you”. Also, we can’t hand over criticism of the government to right-wingers and conservatives.

Were the previous five years of the LINKE in government then a weakening of the social movements and their demands?

Not in all cases. But look at the demands for a commission of inquiry for the Neukölln-Komplex [legal case against two alleged neo-Nazi fire bombers], which many victims of right wing terror and very many anti-fascist groups make. Die LINKE has passed two unanimous conference resolutions for this, but we still couldn’t push it through. This is symbolic. We say that we are against deportations – the SPD deports. We are against the eviction of left-wing spaces– the SPD enforce this. And because we are in the government, our criticism is not too loud. With this we shut the doors to the left.

Would anything have been different if die LINKE were in opposition?

As an opposition party we would at the very least been able to propose a commission of inquiry and exert much more pressure on the SPD and Greens to vote for it. It would have been difficult for them to hide. The evictions might have still happened, but it wouldn’t be put on us. We would also have been able to give a much louder voice to the people who were fighting against it.

How do you want to prevent Red-Green-Red still?

I’m not saying that I reject joining a government in all cases. But me must enforce more of our minimum demands: carry out the [fair rents] referendum, no building on Tempelhofer Feld, stop the privatisation of the S-Bahn, no deportations, a €365 ticker for public transport. I know that compromises must be made for a colaition, but with Franziska Giffey that will be difficult.

You already know her from Neukölln.

Giffey comes from the Buschkowsky tradition [Heinz Buschkowsky, right wing former SPD mayor of Neukölln who faced several charges of racism], that already says everything. At the time she staged media appearances, saying that she was working with Michael Kuhr from the security services against litter in Neukölln – instead of against right wing terror. If she had dealt with this in time, there may not have been the attack against me. Giffey makes populist politics.

Do you understand yourself now as a politician or still as an activist?

I can’t identify myself with the word “politician”. I am an activist in parliament. It is important to keep on telling myself this, to sustain a relationship with the street and to prevent a Mind Change up to adapting to this system. I’ve been an activist on the street since I was 16, In principle since my birth, because my parents were active in left-wing Turkish and Kurdish groups and always took me with them. I don’t know anything else, apart from us fighting on the streets and making the politics that they felt was correct. I don’t wanr to do the same as what I have experienced all the time.

Will that be easy or will compromises be necessary?

I don’t know. I’m very stubborn. My mother always says this.

The discipline of the parliamentary fraction?

I am very undisciplined.

But your party knows who they have brought into parliament?

I want to build the party. I have already said that I be paid according to the rate of die LINKE – that is only to earn as much as the people who work for me. I’m trying to ensure that there is no hierarchy between party workers and mandate. The rest will go to the work at the basis in Neukölln, to build structures. Otherwise, I think that there are different opinions about what a Left looks like. It is not my way to always show consensus. It will certainly be hard to me, when it depends on my vote, but I believe that because of the majority relationships [between SPD, Greens and LINKE], it is unlikely that this will happen.

How are you preparing yourself for your new role?

I must understand how the whole system functions, which bureaucracy I must do. Actually, I hate bureaucracy.

And with which content?

I’m learning how protection of the climate is functioning on the parliamentary level, as I am currently part of the negotiations in this group. Here I am reading and also meeting with Michael Efler, our former spokesperson on the climate. To strengthen the fight for the climate from out of the parliament, it makes sense that I am currently getting on board here.

I thought that you would deal with domestic politics, with strategies against the Right?

In domestic politics, my opinion is quite different to the party. From an Antira perspective, I believe that we should have been speaking about “Defund the police” for a long time, so less money for the police and a different understanding of security than the expansion of the police – asindeed our manifesto demands. But I fear that any coalition would collapse on this issue. Of course I will bring my experiences in the areas “strategies against the right wing” into the parliamentary work of the LINKE fraction.

What should your party get out of this area?

A very important subject for me is Racial Profiling, as this is like a strike from a whole State against individual people. Young people who are confronted with this can’t show any more trust. There must be laws which criminalise this behaviour – and we need a reversal of the burden of proof. The police must have to prove that they haven’t monitored people because of racism.

Neukölln still needs a Commission of Inquiry?

Yes! All three parties demand this. Even Giffey has said this at a panel discussion during the electon campaign, so it must come now. For me it is important that we bring in experts from the Mobilien Beratung gegen Rechtsextremismus (mobile advice against right wing extremism) up to the victim advisors ReachOut, and discuss with them how we can implement this so that we can have an Output at the end. We must go into the depth of the errors of the security authorities which were made during the eleven years of right wing terror. I want to gain an understanding why during all these years there was a detection rate of zero per cent. Is the Verfassungsschutz (state agency to protect the constitution) involved here? Are there V-men [police informants]? In parallel, there must be a round table with anti-right-wing initiatives, which observe the commission from outside and perhaps carry out something like a tribunal.

In 2018 your car was set on fire by Nazis, and the fire spread to your house. As a parliamentarian, you will now be more in the public eye. Does this increase the level of danger for you?

I an certain that in recent years, my anti-fascist engagement has caused Nazis to have their sights on me. If they find a moment, certainly something will happen. But I am trying to minimize these moments.

Do you already know how AfD councillors will encounter you in parliament?

I have already encounter two.

And?

I didn’t enter their lift. I just watched them. Maximum distance. But if it comes to it, of course there can also be confrontation.

This article first appeared in the taz. Translation: Phil Butland. Reproduced with permission

A righteous man – Obituary: Rolf Verleger

Psychologist, professor, human rights activist: the Jewish humanist Rolf Verleger has died

Norman Paech
13/11/2021

Rolf Verleger died in Lübeck on Monday. After graduating in medical psychology this is where he had taught at the university for many years. Rolf grew up in a religious household with parents who had escaped from the Auschwitz and Stutthof concentration camps. This also shaped him through his political 1968 years and led him back to religion, again and again. Neither Kant nor Marx were his mentors, but Rabbi Hillel (died 10 BCE) and Akiba (died 135 BCE), along with the Torah: “In the Torah, all ways are ways of goodness, and all its paths are peace,” he wrote in 2017 in his book One Hundred Years of Homeland? “I grew up with this directive. I was inculcated with it by my parents, I thought of it when I was at home or on the road, when I lay down at night and got up in the morning.”

That remained the case when he later helped to build up the Jewish community in Lübeck and integrated the numerous Jewish immigrants in the 1990s. Judaism, as represented by the then President of the Central Council of Jews in Germany Ignatz Bubis, was his home. The Judaism of charity and active morality, not that of the nation, or the Israeli state.

This was bound to lead to a confrontation with the new Central Council, to which he was appointed in 2005. In an open letter, he sharply criticised Israel’s military action in Lebanon and attacked the attitude of the Central Council: “Is this still the same Judaism (…) whose most important commandment our Rabbi Akiba named: ‘Love your neighbour as yourself’? No one believes me nowadays that this is the ‘real’ Judaism in a time when the Jewish state discriminates against other people, punishes them in collective responsibility, practices targeted killings without trial, has ten Lebanese killed for every compatriot killed and lays whole neighbourhoods to waste. Surely I can expect the Central Council of Jews in Germany to at least see this as a problem.” However, he was recalled and lost his chairmanship of the Lübeck Jewish Community.

But Rolf Verleger did not resign. He fought for his “homeland”, that is, the Judaism of charity and a state at peace with its Arab neighbours. His criticism of the settlement policy, the violence of the occupation army and the settlers, the wars against Gaza intensified as the violence escalated. He became involved not only in the “Jewish Voice for a Just Peace in the Middle East”, but also in the “German-Arab” and the “German-Palestinian Societies”. In 2016, he founded the “Alliance to End the Occupation in Palestine”, which is now called the “Alliance for Justice between Israelis and Palestinians”.

I met Rolf Verleger at the formation of this group, which he asked me to join. I saw in him the authentic voice of a Judaism of reconciliation and the great humanist Jewish tradition. He was not against the Jewish state, he even felt an unambiguous “belonging” to it, but his criticism of the governments’ wars and excesses of violence was without compromise. That he is now no longer with us is an immeasurable loss, not only for those who knew him and worked with him, but for all those who fight for peace between the two peoples. Rolf said that his daughter once told him during his conflict with the Central Council: “You will live and die as a righteous man.” And so it came to pass.

This obituary first appeared in German in the junge Welt. Translator: Ana Ferreira. Reproduced with permission. For a junge Welt interview with Rolf Verleger on the constructed connection between criticism of Israel and anti-Semitism (published in 2017) click here.

To celebrate its 75th birthday , the junge Welt has started the action “Newspaper for peace”. You can give your loved one 75 issues of the jW for €75. After this, the subscription ends automatically, and must not be cancelled.