It was father’s day, so naturally I spoiled myself. Half day in the Spielplatz with Maya, and another half at a farm 30 kilometers from Berlin. I think I heard the word “Aba” (father, in Hebrew) at least 500 times today. “Aba I want an ice cream”, “aba I want on the trampoline”, “aba I want on your shoulders”, “aba I want to listen to Connie”. As I said, it was father’s day.

We drove to the farm with a couple of friends who we really like. We actually love them, not just like. Since it was 30 miles from Berlin, it was obviously decorated with some Nazis. They weren’t a lot, but those who were there made sure to pock a look into me, to make sure that they were thinking that I am crossing a territory that I don’t belong to, and it will be better for all… weiter lesen

Neo Nazis took over a village in Germany. This headline jumped into my face as I was making my morning reading stroll throughout Haaretz newspaper.

At the beginning I thought it was just an exaggeration of an editor who wanted to get some more clicks. Behind the story, I told myself, must be something much less sensational then this. Apparently, it was much worse.

In general, there is a whole village (and the surrounding area) terrorized by right wing members who run people out of their houses, and then buy these houses for themselves. The local authorities just gave up. Berlin doesn’t care. “It’s just the former east, where unemployment is running high”, some will say.

At least no one would be able to claim that they didn’t know.

(Here is a link for the full story).

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But since I don’t want to be too negative, I have a suggestion… weiter lesen