ZURICH (EJP)--- New statistics released by a Swiss Jewish organisation have indictated an increase in anti-Semitic incidents in the country’s German speaking regions.

The Action Group of the Children of the Holocaust (AKDH) said it registered 73 cases of what it considers to have been anti-Semitic incidents between September 2005 and December 2006.

From August 2004 through September 2005 only 32 cases were registered, the Neue Zürcher Zeitung´(NZZ) daily reported.

According to the report, 42 of the incidents which occurred during the past year were of a “tangible nature”, such as those committed against the properties of Jewish institutions and organisations. These included a synagogue in the eastern lakeside city of Biel was vandalised with graffiti.

Samuel Althof, speaker of the AKDH said that a Zurich based house of worship had dog droppings smeared on parts of its façade.

Internet anti-Semitism

Over the course of the same period, 15 anti-Semitism statements were reported to have been found in internet guest books and forums.

Althof said that his organisation had received several anti-Semitic comments on its internet site. Even non-Jewish organisations are reported to have had anti-Semitic comments recorded within their internet pages – such as the Ice Skating Club of Bern, the Swiss capital.

According to AKDH, seven cases of anti-Semitism were publicly made defamatory statements.

Altof told NZZ that he does not believe that the rise of reported anti-Semitic cases means that such incidences are becoming epidemic. Instead, he believes that although most cases go unreported, the public is becoming more aware that they need to go to the police or to his organisation when such cases occur – regardless of how minor the incidences might have appeared.

The AKDH, which also acts as a trauma centre for victims of anti-Semitic acts, has, together with the Federation of Swiss Jewish Communities called upon the government to set up a centralised database for monitoring anti-Semitic acts for the entire country.

More information on the AKDH’s work is available in German at http://www.akdh.ch