Vortrag: Kein Relikt der NS-Vergangenheit. Der antisemitische Anschlag auf die Kölner Synagoge 1959

On Christmas 1959, two right-wing radicals daubed swastikas and anti-Semitic slogans on the recently rededicated Cologne synagogue on Roonstrasse. The German public was suddenly made aware that anti-Semitism was not a relic of the Nazi past, but continued to exist in the Federal Republic. The attack triggered a great wave of public outrage and at the same time drew hundreds of copycat acts, which grew into a "wave of anti-Semitic smearings" in the winter of 1959/1960. The social effects of the attack reveal a drastic contradiction between official condemnation of the act and simultaneous relativization and trivialization of its anti-Semitic background. From which political milieu did the perpetrators come? What about the continuity of radical right-wing structures in Cologne after 1945? How can the ensuing debate be classified in terms of contemporary history?

Historian Philipp Grehn will explore these questions in his lecture. Daniel Vymyslicky from the reporting office for anti-Semitic incidents at the NS Documentation Center shows the topicality of anti-Semitism. Dr. Michael Rado puts the attack into context as a contemporary witness and member of the board of the Synagogue Community Cologne.

Please register by Nov. 24, 2023, stating your name, phone number, and date and place of birth at ibs@stadt-koeln.de and bring your ID to the event.

A cooperation event of the NS-DOK and the Synagogue Community Cologne.