In today’s Western Europe, wearing a Star of David in public can be life-threatening. This is what 26-year-old Emily Volovik experienced during a night on the town in Copenhagen on March 6, 2022. This is according to the newspaper B.T.
She and her friends had been at Bubbles Bar in Østerbro when they decided to head into the city center.
When the taxi arrived, another woman showed up and wanted to join them. The others didn’t. But when the woman saw the Star of David, her mind went blank.
“When she sees my Star of David, it’s like she completely loses it,” says Emily Volovik and continues:
“She completely changes her behavior, starts yelling that I’m going to die and ‘viva Hamas’.”
The 26-year-old woman explains how the stranger struggled to get into the taxi with the women, who fought to keep her out.
“Finally, she manages to throw herself into the taxi, where she grabs my leg and bites it. I try to get her away by pulling her hair, but the more I pull, the harder she bites.”
“It’s as if she has locked her jaw around my leg.”
Being bitten by a human can be dangerous. Volovik has been on antibiotic pills for a long time and has received psychological help. But she wants to tell her story as a cautionary tale. It is not unique.
Emily’s leg. Photo: Private
For her, the case is a clear example of something bigger: the anti-Semitism she says she has encountered all her life.
Most of the time, it manifests itself in small ways, she says. In the way ‘Jew’ has become a swear word. In the teasing in elementary school. In the incidents where people have spat in her direction.
The examples are “not special”, she says. They are “common”.
On Friday, the 29-year-old woman will appear before the Copenhagen City Court, charged with violence and hate crime.
“It is an aggravating circumstance to attack someone because of their faith.
It is not safe to be Jewish in today’s Denmark. The politicians express sympathy and solidarity, but that’s it.
If they really meant it, all politicians and journalists would wear the Star of David around their necks.
But they won’t.
https://www.bt.dk/krimi/kvinde-tiltalt-for-hadforbrydelse-mod-emily-det-slaar-klik-for-hende-da-hun-ser-min?fbclid=IwAR1w0RqZ9S3EDTfWPn8k_D7mAPvEdvdrbLVIW8McmE2ZI5TFOaRzvYfjYzU