German store owner forced to remove sign banning Jews from entering business, outraged officials reveal
A shop owner in the German city of Flensburg has ignited widespread anger by hanging a sign that bars Jews from entering his store. Hans-Velten Reisch, a 60-year-old who runs a business selling Gothic items and technical books, posted the message on Wednesday: “Jews are banned from entering here! Nothing personal. No antisemitism. Just can’t stand you.”
Reisch stood by his decision when Germany’s top tabloid, Bild, confronted him on Thursday. He explained that watching evening news about the conflict in Gaza pushed him over the edge. “I watch the news every evening. And when I saw what the Jews were doing in the Gaza Strip, I lost my temper and printed out the poster,” he told the paper.
That anger ties back to Israel’s military response to the October 7, 2023, Hamas attack, where terrorists killed over 1,200 people, including Americans. Police visited Reisch that same evening and ordered him to remove the sign right away.
State leaders in Schleswig-Holstein quickly condemned the act. Culture Minister Dorit Stenke and antisemitism commissioner Gerhard Ulrich released a joint statement on the government’s website, calling it a direct attack on democratic values. “A sign that denies Jews access to a store is a frightening signal and an attack on the principles of our free coexistence,” Stenke said. She stressed that society must fight back together against such hate, as antisemitism threatens democracy in every form.
Ulrich echoed her words, urging unity: “We must stand together against every form of antisemitism.” He added that Germans carry a special duty to combat it. Authorities wasted no time— the state prosecutor’s office opened an investigation into Reisch for incitement to hatred. Ulrich filed his own criminal complaint, and Bild reports at least five total complaints against the shop owner.
“This kind of antisemitic hate speech not only hurts those targeted but also stirs up public unrest,” Ulrich warned. He noted how the Flensburg incident echoes the hateful rhetoric of Nazi-era Germany against Jews.
This isn’t an isolated case. Officials say antisemitism is surging in Schleswig-Holstein, with 588 incidents recorded in 2024—a staggering 390% jump from the previous year.
Yet Ulrich himself faces sharp criticism for past comments that some see as fueling anti-Jewish or anti-Israel views. Before becoming commissioner, he served as a Protestant bishop in northern Germany. In 2022, Rabbi Abraham Cooper, associate dean of the Simon Wiesenthal Center—a Jewish rights group honoring Nazi hunter Simon Wiesenthal—called for Ulrich’s removal. Cooper accused him of legitimizing antisemitism in mainstream German society, saying Ulrich was unfit for the role.
Ulrich once described the name “Israel” as burdened by the horrors of Middle East wars. He also likened Israel’s security barrier to the Berlin Wall, pushing for its teardown. Israeli counter-terrorism experts credit that fence with preventing thousands of deaths from attacks out of the West Bank, the biblical area known as Judea and Samaria.
The Flensburg controversy highlights ongoing tensions around antisemitism in Germany, especially amid the Israel-Hamas war.
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