The pictures in the Feinberg’s restaurant on Fuggerstrasse in Berlin-Schoeneberg show scenes in Jerusalem. One of the large-format photos by artist Rafael Herlich shows Jewish children and a group of orthodox Jews. This work was destroyed by an unknown perpetrator on Sunday evening. It is believed that a passer-by who had asked to be able to use the toilet committed this act.
The perpetrator is said to have taken the picture that was hanging in a corridor into the toilet cubicle and damaged it there. In addition, Israeli symbols were placed in the holder of the toilet brush.
The photographer Rafael Herlich, whose atmospheric photographs from Jerusalem can be seen in an exhibition in the restaurant, calls it targeted anti-Semitic damage to property, which “has nothing to do with Israel,” according to a press release by the Alliance Against Anti-Semitism in the Tempelhof-Schoeneberg district .
“We think it’s unlikely it was a guest,” says a restaurant worker. Feinberg’s is a popular eatery and was busy on a Sunday night. The restaurant, named after its owner Yorai Feinberg, gained notoriety for a serious anti-Semitic incident in December 2017.
[350,000 people, 1 newsletter: The author of this text, Sigrid Kneist, writes the Tagesspiegel newsletter for Tempelhof-Schöneberg. You can find it here: leute.tagesspiegel.de]
At that time, the restaurant owner filmed a man in front of the restaurant, who was throwing savage anti-Semitic abuse at him. The video caused outrage across Germany.
Since then, Feinberg has repeatedly faced anti-Semitism. There was also frequent insults and abuse on social media.
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A report to the police has not been made after this new incident, the employee said. This is too much bureaucracy and effort, brings nothing. Past experience has shown that.
Sunday’s incident was met with horror in the district. “I’m proud that Feinberg’s is in Schöneberg and I know how popular the restaurant is across the district. I find this cowardly act of anti-Semitism all the more outrageous,” said the district mayor of Tempelhof-Schoeneberg, Jörn Oltmann (Greens), who assured the restaurant and its operator of his full solidarity. He also wanted to express this in a visit.
