A former German Jewish student leader was sent a four-page letter containing Holocaust mockery, sexually explicit antisemitic abuse and Nazi slogans – including a note inviting her to “Auschwitz to have a party for happy Holocaust” and signed “Heil Hitler”.
Hanna Veiler, 27, a social work student at Heidelberg University and former president of the German Union of Jewish Students (JSUD), said she opened the letter earlier this week after checking the organisation’s Berlin mailbox, where post is still occasionally delivered for her.
“I arrived and I started opening mail – everything looked normal,” she told Jewish News. “And one of the letters was a four-page letter, including a death note… There’s an English one, and then there’s another one in German saying, ‘Why did the Jews love to go to Auschwitz? Because the trip was for free.’”
The messages also included a printed image comparing Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to Adolf Hitler, alongside the lines: “Oh Hanna, you are very sweet judensau… Let’s go to Auschwitz and have a party for happy holocaust… I want to **** ya three nights long for happy Holocaust.”
Hanna Veiler speaking at a European event. Photo Credit: @hannaesther__, Instagram.
Veiler said she stopped reading after realising what the pages contained. “I just didn’t read them because I saw enough, and everything was clear to me. There was no need to continue.”
The material has now been handed over to German police and is under investigation.
Veiler said it wasn’t the first time she had received graphic threats. “About a year ago, I received a letter – three pages – and the person described how they wanted to send me through the gas chambers of Auschwitz.”
She added: “Emails, comments on social media – this has become a part of our reality. Not just for me, but for everyone who’s publicly Jewish, who works for a Jewish organisation.”
In an Instagram post, she described the emotional toll of leading Jewish student life in Germany. “My presidency was one of the loneliest times in my life due to this. Cause only a few understand what it means to personally take in all this bull****.”
The abuse, she said, has become so common that many are no longer shocked. “A lot of my friends from different countries in Europe reacted the same – like, this is horrible, but we’re not surprised. We’re all receiving things like that on the daily.”
After some hesitation, she decided to post images of the letter to Instagram, where they quickly went viral. “I don’t want people to think of me as the victim. I don’t want to be someone that people are sorry for… I don’t want the people who believe in this kind of ideology to think they have an effect on me. Because they don’t have the effect they want.”
She added: “Probably I’m an exception. I’ve got a very weird way of dealing with this kind of hate. I can push it away. I understand it has nothing to do with me – it has to do with the people who are hating.”
In her Instagram caption, she condemned attempts to downplay right-wing extremism in Germany. “To everyone who believes right-wing antisemitism was ‘not a thing’ in Germany and the threat was only coming from the left or migrant communities: F*** you big time… To everyone who believes the AfD, that normalises exactly this ideology, was a partner in any sense in the democratic discourse: F*** you big time.”
Speaking to Jewish News, she warned that antisemitism in Germany has surged since the 7 October Hamas attacks. “The evidence is very clear. Everyone’s reality has completely changed.”
Jewish life in Germany has faced growing challenges amid a sharp rise in antisemitic incidents since 7 October.
The far-right Alternative für Deutschland (AfD), which she accuses of mainstreaming antisemitism, is now polling close to 30 percent nationally. “This is new for Germany,” Veiler said. “It’s the first time since the Holocaust that the far right has actually had a chance of becoming the next government. And coming from a country like Germany, this is scary.”
She believes state authorities have failed to take the threat seriously. “There’s still a lot of denial. There’s still a lot of people who’d say Germany doesn’t have a problem with right-wing antisemitism… The state has to show strength. These groups must be banned. It has to be followed. It has to be prosecuted.”
Asked for her message to the UK, Veiler urged solidarity. “When it comes to antisemitism, it doesn’t matter what kind of nationality we have… It’s a global problem. When it gets worse in one place, it automatically spreads to the next.”
She added: “A lot of trends we’ve seen in Germany – for example, on college campuses – actually arrived in the UK first. That’s why we should stay in contact and support each other.”
