German newspaper prints cut-out kippah urging readers to wear it in solidarity with Jews

The move comes after a leading government official warned Jews in Germany not to wear the traditional skullcaps in public because of an increase in anti-Semitic attacks across the country.

Felix Klein, the government's anti-Semitism commissioner, told the Funke media group Saturday: "I cannot advise Jews to wear the kippah everywhere all the time in Germany."

In response, Germany's most popular daily newspaper asked readers to wear the cut-out kippah as a mark of solidarity with the Jewish community, and even posted a video on its website showing how to make it.

"Wear it, so that your friends and neighbors can see it. Explain to your children what the kippah is," wrote editor-in-chief Julian Reichelt.

"Post a photograph with the kippah on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter. Go out onto the streets with it."

A German official said Jews are not advised to wear a kippah "everywhere all the time in Germany."

Reichelt rejected Klein's call for Jews to limit their use of the kippah.

"To that, there is only one answer: No, that must not be the case!" he wrote. "If it is so, and if it stays that way, then we have failed in the face of our history."

He called on readers to support the Jewish community.

"If even one person in our country cannot wear the kippah without putting themselves in danger, then the only answer must be that we all wear the kippah," wrote Reichelt. "The kippah belongs to Germany!"

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There is mounting concern over the rise of anti-Semitism in Germany, and government figures point to an increase in anti-Semitic attacks.

The findings, released by the interior ministry, showed that anti-Semitic hate crimes rose by nearly 20% last year, while physical attacks on Jews rose to 62 last year from 37 in 2017.

Horst Seehofer, the interior minister, has said that around 90% of the reported incidents were perpetrated by supporters of far-right groups.

"This is a development that we have to confront, especially in this country," Seehofer told a press conference in May. "This is a job for the police as well as the whole society."

Chancellor Angela Merkel has also denounced anti-Semitic crime in Germany and called for a "zero-tolerance" approach to tackling it.

"People growing up today must know what people were capable of in the past, and we must work proactively to ensure that it is never repeated," she said in January.

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