The 2023 European Mayors Summit Against Antisemitism will be hosted by the city of Dortmund, Germany, on Nov. 29-Dec. 1, it was announced on Tuesday.
The summit — to be held under the banner of “Fostering Cultural Diversity” — is being organized by the Combat Antisemitism Movement (CAM), in partnership with the Jewish community of Dortmund, and will be chaired by Lord Mayor of Dortmund Thomas Westphal.
“We are very proud that we are part of this big international family against antisemitism and we are even more excited that we can be the host this year,” Lord Mayor Westphal said at a press conference in Dortmund on Tuesday.
CAM CEO Sacha Roytman Dratwa said, “We are very pleased to work and collaborate with the city, it’s been a great honor so far. Dortmund has more than 1,000 years of Jewish history, and to see this Jewish life celebrated here today is very important. Yesterday, we learned that before the Holocaust there was a Jewish Bürgermeister (mayor) here. The fact that there was Jewish life before the Holocaust and Jewish life is celebrated here again is a message to every city across Europe, and we need to listen to Dortmund when it celebrates Jewish life.”
Rabbi Avigdor M. Nosikov said, “It’s a big honor for us, as a community of Jewish citizens of Dortmund to have this event in our city. We have very strong cooperation with the city of Dortmund, with the government, to combat antisemitism and create a more tolerant environment for our population. Now, with the upcoming event, we are reaching a new level — a level of international cooperation to build a society where everyone can feel safe and comfortable.”
Three years ago, CAM identified a need to address rising Jew-hatred worldwide with a cities-oriented approach. Mayors and other municipal officials have a unique ability to confront antisemitism at the local level, on the ground, where its effects are most viscerally felt by Jewish communities.
The first two Mayors Summits Against Antisemitism held in 2021 and 2022 — hosted by Frankfurt am Main, Germany, and Athens, Greece, respectively — saw mayors and high-level officials from more than 50 cities across the globe — including New York, Los Angeles, Paris, Brussels, Amsterdam, Vienna, Buenos Aires, and Montevideo, among others — chart a fresh path forward, including a new six-point municipal action plan six-point municipal action plan against antisemitism.
The Dortmund summit will bring together mayors, diplomats, special envoys, religious figures, business leaders, sports executives, community activists, and other influential policy experts and decisionmakers to share the challenges they face in the collective effort against the world’s oldest hatred and offer pragmatic solutions at this critical moment in human history, with prejudice and extremism surging across Europe and the globe.
The gathering will facilitate the city-to-city exchange of innovative approaches and professional frameworks for best practices to build social cohesion and forge tolerance and understanding across all backgrounds. It will also feature networking opportunities, musical performances, an art exhibition, and a visit to a Borussia Dortmund soccer stadium, among other activities.
Dortmund is known around the world as the “City of Sports,” and it chairs the European Coalition of Cities Against Racism’s Working Group on Antisemitism.
CAM’s work with the international network of mayors it has built in recent years is a critical component of its efforts to achieve the organization’s ultimate goal of building a better future, free of bigotry, for the Jewish people and all humanity.
If you wish to participate in the 2023 European Mayors Summit Against Antisemitism or would like more information, please contact CAM Director of European Affairs Oriana Marie Krüger at oriana@combatantisemitism.org.
