Skip To Content
JEWISH. INDEPENDENT. NONPROFIT.
Breaking News

Jewish Man Beaten in Berlin on New Year’s Eve

A Jewish man was badly beaten by several men in the center of Berlin on New Year’s Eve, after he asked them to stop singing anti-Semitic songs.

The victim, Shahak Shapira, 26, suffered bruises and a head laceration. He said the assailants were “southern European” in appearance and spoke both German and Arabic. Police say that cell phone videos Shapira took during the attack should be helpful in finding the perpetrators.

The incident took place early on Jan. 1, on an underground city train in the Kreuzberg section of Berlin, according to German news reports.

Police said the young man, whose national identity has not been released, witnessed seven men singing anti-Semitic songs on the train. He reportedly asked them to stop, and recorded the scene on his cell phone.

Reaching a central station, the assailants exited with the young man and demanded that he erase the recording. When he refused, they allegedly spit on him, kicked him and punched him in the head.

The attackers fled the scene when security staff of the Berlin transit authority approached.

Police denied earlier reports that the perpetrators appeared to be right-wing extremists.

There have been several violent anti-Semitic attacks registered in Berlin in recent months. In July, a Jewish man wearing a cap with a Jewish star was beaten. In November, an Israeli tourist was punched and kicked by four attackers in the Charlottenburg district of former West Berlin.

Republish This Story

Please read before republishing

We’re happy to make this story available to republish for free, unless it originated with JTA, Haaretz or another publication (as indicated on the article) and as long as you follow our guidelines. You must credit the Forward, retain our pixel and preserve our canonical link in Google search.  See our full guidelines for more information, and this guide for detail about canonical URLs.

To republish, copy the HTML by clicking on the yellow button to the right; it includes our tracking pixel, all paragraph styles and hyperlinks, the author byline and credit to the Forward. It does not include images; to avoid copyright violations, you must add them manually, following our guidelines. Please email us at [email protected], subject line “republish,” with any questions or to let us know what stories you’re picking up.

We don't support Internet Explorer

Please use Chrome, Safari, Firefox, or Edge to view this site.