Sweden: Students boycott Jewish teacher

Swedish journalist Niklas Orrenius writes that he had interviewed several Jewish teachers in Malmö  who say they have met with open hatred from their students.  Often their students would tell conspiracy stories they've heard at home.

One, Sofia, heard her students mocking Jews and spreading stories of Jewish blood-lust.  Some students told their friends not to drink Coca-Cola, because Israeli soldiers were killing Palestinian children and putting their blood in it.

When Sofia asked her students to draw pictures of Jews, they drew monsters.  Creatures with sinister eyes.

When one student said in class "we want to kill all Jews", she finally broke down and 'outed' herself.  "You can start with me."

The classroom fell silent, until finally one student asked "Are you Jewish?".

Her grandparents were Holocaust survivors who were later persecuted again in Poland.  They had always warned her to never ever tell anybody she was Jewish.  She had always thought they were traumatized from the war, but now she finally understood them.

But she did not lie to her class.  "Yes, I'm a Jew," she told them.

One student asked incredulous "but you're so kind!"  Others were ashamed and said "we didn't mean you".  Two girls started crying, and Sofia cried too.

In the following weeks, the boys who had said they hated Jews, stopped coming to her class. Others avoided her gaze.

One day a 9-year-old stopped outside her class.  "Why don't you come in?" she asked.

"Mom and Dad don't let me," he answered.

"Why not?

He fidgeted, but finally answered "You are a Jew".