Blog : Philosémitisme

A. est une juive israélienne qui s'est installée en Suède il y a 39 ans. En février, elle a commencé à travailler en tant que professeur dans une école à Malmö.  Une semaine après, elle était congédiée au motif qu'elle est juive .

Le proviseur lui a dit que des problèmes pourraient survenir en raison de ses origines. "Ce ne sera pas facile pour vous ici . La plupart des étudiants suédois sont racistes . Ils détestent tout le monde, mais surtout les juifs.  Il est donc très probable que vous en "preniez" de la part des élèves aussi bien suédois qu'arabes", lui expliqua-t-il et lui suggéra de trouver un emploi, loin de toute école.

A. a confié que lorsque le proviseur l'a licenciée elle a eu envie de pleurer, mais a compris ce qu'il voulait dire. Elle a compris que cacher son Magen David ne suffirait pas, et qu'il lui faudrait également cacher ses origines.

Via New Antisemite et  NRG:

A. is a Jewish-Israeli woman who emigrated to Sweden 39 years ago.  This February she started working as a teacher in a school in Malmo, but a week later she was fired, because she's Jewish.

The principal told her that there could be problems because of her origins.  "It won't be easy for you here.  Most of the Swedish students are racists.  They hate everybody, but especially the Jews, so it's very possible you'll 'get it' from both the Swedish and the Arab students."  He suggested she find a different job, far from any school.

She says that when the principal fired her, she felt like crying, but she also understood what problems he was talking about. She understood that it's not enough to cover up her magen-david necklace with scarves, and that she'll have to continue and stay silent when people ask her about her origins.

Over the years she taught immigrants Swedish, and she introduced herself without hesitation as Jewish and Israeli.  She was sometimes met with suspicion or hostility. 

When she started working in this school, the history teacher came to her and told her "I'm on your [ie, the Jews] side, but it's important you know this school has a serious problem with racism."  She  decided she won't say where she's from, though it's obvious she's not Swedish.

"The teacher told me specifically 'make sure they won't know you're Jewish, they hate Muslims, but they hate Jews the most'.  I asked him if they ever met Jews. He said 'I don't think so'. They think Jews are responsible for every bad thing that happens in the world. I was very careful, I understood I shouldn't tell I'm Jewish".

The principal did not say outright that he's firing her because she's Jewish, and used various other justifications.  Her union won't back her up because she can't prove she was fired due to racism.  She also discovered that her co-workers have blocked her on Facebook.

This wasn't the only problem she's faced in Malmo.  During the Gaza War a Palestinian student complained that A. was racist and hates Palestinians, and that she said that it's good they don't have a state.  The school did not employ her further.  But she says she never discusses politics.  In fact, she volunteers helping Muslim refugees.


Another former Israeli, Noami Lind, a friend of A., says she faced similar problems.  Lind emigrated to Sweden 34 years ago and lives in a Stockholm suburb, where she taught computer science.

"A girl was upset at her marks and told me she hopes Hitler will come back and finish the job.  I always felt that the school administration wasn't comfortable with the fact that I'm Israeli. They talked in class about the Holocaust, but despite that, they didn't know how to deal with modern antisemitism.  The school didn't deal with the girl who said those racist things, even though it's a criminal offense here. I'm a daughter of Holocaust survivors, and I took it really hard. My coworkers were amazing, they demanded the school lodge a complaint and expel the girl, but the administration didn't do it."

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