Fears of rising antisemitism in Europe

Regina Sluszny makes her way in her wheelchair through the iron gate marking the entrance to the former Auschwitz concentration camp. "I feel the cold, both physically and emotionally," says the 87-year-old Jewish woman, her gaze fixed on the grey horizon.

How many times has she been here? Six, seven, perhaps eight, she estimates. And each time, the same thoughts run through her mind: "I think about my husband's family. He lost seven loved ones here. They were sent straight to the gas chambers and murdered."

Regina Sluszny traveled to Poland with a delegation from the European Jewish Association (EJA), a European advocacy group representing Jewish interests that regularly organizes conferences on Jewish life as well as visits to former concentration camps.

This year, the organization invited political representatives and members of Jewish communities to Krakow and Auschwitz on November 9 and 10. The trip was deliberately scheduled to coincide with the anniversary of the November Pogroms of 1938, widely regarded as a watershed moment on the path to the Holocaust.

"Honoring the past, securing the future" is the event's motto. Like many others in attendance, Holocaust survivor Regina Sluszny fears that the horrors of the Shoah are slowly fading from Europe's collective memory.

Among this year's international religious and political representatives, the guest of honor was Reza Pahlavi, the exiled son of Iran's last shah and a prominent opponent of the Islamic Republic. The European Jewish Association (EJA) honored him for his efforts to combat antisemitism.

Accepting the award, Pahlavi recalled the historic ties between the Persian and Jewish peoples and called on democratic nations around the world to unite against oppression and ideological extremism.

But talking to attendees at the symposium in Krakow, it quickly becomes clear that fear of rising antisemitism is much closer to home. Many describe growing hostility towards Jews and rising fear in Jewish communities across Europe.

In France, authorities recorded a total of 1,320 antisemitic incidents in 2025. That was fewer than in 2024, but around three times as many as in 2022.

In Germany, the number of antisemitic crimes recorded by police rose from 2,641 in 2022 to 6,236 in 2024 and 6,548 in 2025. Authorities and monitoring organizations across Europe have reported a significant increase in antisemitic incidents since October 7, 2023.

For Ellen van Praagh, chair of the Interprovincial Rabbinate in the Netherlands, October 7, 2023, marked a turning point. She also lost a family member during the Hamas-led attack which saw around 1,200 people in Israel killed and over 250 taken hostage and abducted to the Gaza Strip.

"My family has lived in the Netherlands since the 16th century. And now I'm being told to leave," says van Praagh. She says the atmosphere in the Netherlands has changed dramatically since the attack. She no longer feels safe there as a Jew. "We Jews are being held responsible for Israel's actions."

Israel launched a major military offensive in the Gaza Strip after the October-7 attack. More than 75,000 Palestinians have been killed there since the start of the war, according to conservative estimates.

Like many others at the symposium, van Praagh says she is increasingly losing faith in politicians. "Never Again" has become an empty phrase, she argues, with little relevance to the everyday lives of Jews in Europe.

Jewish communities now have to protect themselves behind high walls. Constant security measures restrict their daily lives, she explains. "That is not what we want. We want to live in freedom."

Rabbi Menachem Margolin, chairman of the European Jewish Association, is also calling on European political leaders to take greater responsibility. He says he is grateful for their support, without which Jewish life in Europe would hardly be possible.

However, laws designed to protect Jewish life are often not enforced in practice. Many officials hesitate to call antisemitism by its name as soon as doing so becomes politically inconvenient. "But Auschwitz did not begin with gas chambers. It began with words," he cautioned.

Regina Sluszny joined the delegation visiting the Birkenau memorial. The Auschwitz concentration and extermination camp, built by Nazi Germany, became a symbol of the Holocaust. The Nazis murdered around 1.1 million people there, including approximately one million Jews. Most were killed here at Birkenau.

The delegation is gathered to commemorate the November Pogroms of November 9 and 10, 1938, when Nazis set synagogues on fire, ransacked Jewish businesses and homes and murdered Jews. Around 30,000 Jewish men were deported to concentration camps.

Survivors like Regina are increasingly rare. Most Holocaust survivors have passed away. Regina survived because, in 1942, a family friend and his wife took her in when she was just two years old while her parents fled the Nazis with her two brothers and went into hiding.

For more than 40 years, she has been sharing her story with schoolchildren, doing her part to ensure that the Holocaust is never forgotten. For her, "Never Again" is a promise that must be kept. Otherwise, it becomes a lie.

This article was originally published in German.