In recent weeks, antisemitic and racist graffiti and propaganda have increasingly appeared on our campus at TU Berlin. Particularly Jews and BIPoC are being targeted and attacked, and/or are feeling unsafe. Antisemitism is currently on the rise, with reports indicating an increase of three hundred times. Jews, synagogues, and places and institutions marked as Jewish are being subjected to antisemitic attacks. Racist incidents are also increasing significantly, manifesting in heightened asylum laws and political demands for more deportations, which are already being implemented by the government with brutal racist severity.
We call on all students, teaching staff, and other employees at TU Berlin and university libraries to stand in solidarity with the affected individuals! Intervene in antisemitic, racist, and other discriminatory incidents if that is wanted by those affected! If you are not comfortable intervening alone, seek support, talk to colleagues or fellow students!
We urge the university to take immediate action against antisemitic and racist graffiti on campus (often in restrooms), to remove them, and to support those affected. Support services and information must be provided in a low-threshold and barrier-free manner.
We call on all TU staff, our fellow students, and comrades to report all antisemitic, racist, right-wing, and other discriminatory incidents and/or propaganda to existing monitoring centers and inform affected individuals that there are support and counseling services available in Berlin.
If you are personally affected, witness antisemitic or (anti-muslim) racist incidents/statements, or discover graffiti, posters, stickers, you can seek support and report them to the following counseling centers:
- OFEK – Counseling center for antisemitic violence and discrimination: https://ofek-beratung.de/berlin berlin@ofek-beratung.de / 030 610 80 458
- ReachOut – Counseling for racist incidents and/or discrimination: https://www.reachoutberlin.de/ beratung@reachoutberlin.de / 030 69568339
- Berliner Register, reporting center for discrimination and extreme right-wing activities: https://www.berliner-register.de/sprache/english-englisch/ The AStA of TU Berlin is contact point for the Register Charlottenburg-Wilmersdorf; you can also report incidents to us by email: buero@asta.tu-berlin.de or in person (Building TK 2 on campus), and we forward them anonymously to the Register!
- Research and Information Center on Antisemitism (RIAS) for reporting antisemitic incidents: https://report-antisemitism.de/en/
- For discrimination by public or state institutions of the state of Berlin, feel free to contact the Ombudsman Office of the State Office for Equal Treatment and against Discrimination Berlin (LADS) https://www.berlin.de/sen/lads/en/
- If you experience discrimination in the private sector (e.g. in the workplace, by private providers, housing market, or services), please contact the Federal Anti-Discrimination Agency (ADS): https://www.antidiskriminierungsstelle.de/EN/homepage/homepage-node.html
- You can find an overview (in German) of contact and counseling centers, also for other forms of discrimination and violence in Berlin, for example, here: https://www.berliner-register.de/beratungsstelle-finden/