A group of 36 schools operated by the Evangelical School Foundation in Berlin and Brandenburg has committed to explicitly combating antisemitism.
The schools, which employ around 1,400 staff and educate more than 10,000 children and young people, will be obligated to the new regulation as of 1 August.
The Chair of the Foundation's Executive Board, Eva-Maria Kopte, said that the revised school law reflects a clear commitment to opposing "misanthropic and anti-democratic tendencies in society."
Since autumn 2025, a declaration has been attached to employment contracts and school enrolment contracts with the promise to oppose all forms of discrimination and extremism. Among other things, it stipulates that no one may be "favored, disadvantaged or excluded" on the basis of their ancestry, gender identity, religious, ideological or political beliefs, or for racist reasons.
Following a decision by the Synod of the Evangelical Church Berlin-Brandenburg-Silesian Upper Lusatia, the preamble to the school law was amended to include the following sentence: "The school community firmly opposes any glorification or trivialization of National Socialism, war and violence, as well as antisemitism."
Anyone joining the 36 schools as a pupil or staff member will now be contractually obliged to uphold this promise.
If schools or teachers, other staff members, students or parents fail to comply with the requirements of the school law, dialogue will first be sought, Kopte said.
"As a last resort, the school contract or employment contract may then be terminated."
No antisemitic incidents reported so far
Apart from one incident, involving antisemitic graffiti on a school building, no antisemitic incidents have so far been reported at the Foundation's schools. The school immediately reported it to the police.
Kopte noted that the commitment to fighting antisemitism is also reflected in everyday school life through annual visits to former Nazi concentration camp memorial sites.
"Remembrance culture is part of our strategy for democratic education," she said. "It is an integral part of the identity of our schools."
She added that active discussion is also essential. School communities engage "actively with issues such as the Israel–Palestine conflict, the war in Ukraine, and compulsory military service."
Knowledge and personal encounters, she said, are "the best medicine against fanaticism and hatred."