Hand in Hand - Indivisible in Dignity and Community
Speeches by Bishop Christian Stäblein and Rabbi Andreas Nachama at the rally #CourageouslyHumanTogether in Berlin on Bebelplatz (Sunday, February 16, 2025):
"Whoever destroys a life, destroys an entire world!" This sentence can be found in both the Talmud and the Quran. As so often, the holy scriptures are close to one another. And as so often, people stand so much against each other. We are here today to bring people together. We stand together. And we are so many! Thank you all for coming. To bring people together, we are building the House of One—mosque, church, and synagogue under one roof.
We stand here, hand in hand, bishop and rabbi, because we mourn lives that have been destroyed. Every life lost is an entire world lost. The victims of Breitscheidplatz, Halle, Hanau, Solingen, Magdeburg, Aschaffenburg, and now Munich—people murdered or severely injured, including children. Every victim, every human being—a destroyed world. And then there are the grieving families and friends, and the rest of us, who see the images in the news. Shocked and speechless.
And each time, a cry goes through the country: "Catch the perpetrator!" No question, perpetrators must be brought to justice and will face their punishment. But that concerns them, the perpetrators alone. We Jews know all too well what it means when an entire collective is held accountable: "The Jews"—"the murderers of Jesus"—"the well poisoners." And today: t h e ??? No, I won’t say it, but unfortunately, you all know what I mean—I mean those who are unjustly held collectively responsible.
And we stand here, hand in hand, bishop and rabbi, because this is about:
"צֶ֥דֶק צֶ֖דֶק תִּרְדֹּ֑ף" (Deuteronomy 16:20)
In English: Justice can only be pursued and achieved through justice.
Our state is a constitutional democracy, with a Basic Law that protects every human life, with fundamental rights and a well-established judiciary. Our rule of law has principles and strong foundations. Serious crimes are met with severe punishments. But there is no collective guilt. There is no hereditary liability for entire groups. A chain is only as strong as its weakest link. The rights of each individual are only as strong as those of the people whom a supposedly righteous majority seeks to hold collectively accountable.
And we stand here, hand in hand, bishop and rabbi, on Bebelplatz, where books were burned in May 1933. We stand here to hold politics accountable, to ensure that our constitutional democracy remains the best memorial for the millions of victims who perished after the burning books. Because: "Whoever saves a life, preserves an entire world!"
Dear Friends of Democracy and Humanity!
It is good that we are standing here hand in hand today. Democracy is based on human dignity, which is granted to every human being by God.
Inviolable, indestructible. Regardless of religion, gender, origin, whether rich or poor. Every human being has dignity. That is why we are standing here, rabbi and bishop, to remember this on Bebelplatz. A place where books were burned in 1933, where freedom of thought and speech was thus banned, where the dignity of millions of people was trampled underfoot and terrible years with a great killing began. Respect for human dignity, for humanity, brings us together today, respect for each and everyone. .
We think of those who were injured in the attack in Munich. We think of all those who suffered serious harm to body and soul. We lament this and we say it out loud. It is good that we have begun with a minute's silence for the victims in Munich. In silence, we also call out to God and tell him what moves our hearts.
No one should divide us and the world into good and evil. And, I also say this to us self-critically: it is sometimes seductively easy to divide the world into good and evil. We need the whole spectrum of democrats, many different opinions and also the debate about ideas, from left to right.
Democracy involves tolerating other opinions openly, courageously and boldly. We need everyone to stand up for democracy these days. We can only manage to protect and defend our democracy together, hand in hand, against those who seek to destroy democracy and marginalize people.
In this city, in this country and in this Europe, we are resolutely and loudly opposed to all forms of anti-Semitism. And against any form of blanket condemnation of Muslim men and Muslim women. Next week marks the fifth anniversary of the terrible murders in Hanau. Muslims and Jews must be able to live safely in our country.
Nachama: We stand here hand in hand, rabbi and bishop. We will not allow ourselves to be divided, we will not allow this society to be divided, we will not allow the dignity that all people share to be divided. Hand in hand. Stay safe.