EMPATHIA³
EMpowering Police officers And TeacHers In Arguing Against Antisemitism

The police in Halle (Saxony-Anhalt) were not aware that the Jewish holiday of Yom Kippur was being celebrated at the time of the synagogue shooting in October 2019. This is not an isolated case. Similar problems exist in the way public institutions dealing with halakhic requirements on Shabbat or other Jewish holidays, e.g. in scheduling state exams at universities. When knowledge about Judaism and antisemitism is focused solely on the Shoah or even reduced to this subject, it is difficult to intervene effectively against antisemitism. Against this backdrop, the planned project EMPATHIA³ aims to empower future teachers and police officers in confronting the many forms of antisemitism.

The joint project, which involves researchers from the fields of religious studies, history, history and social studies education, childhood and adolescence research, educational research, police training and civil society, is divided into three components. The first component is dedicated to the development of a core curriculum for students in education and police service on the prevention, intervention and repression of anti-Semitism. This curriculum will define the core knowledge and competencies necessary for work by the target groups. For the second component, a standardized test instrument will be developed in order to define the contents of the core curriculum and to provide information on the state of knowledge, attitudes and competencies of prospective police officers and teachers in NRW. The third component will be focused on developing and testing the effectiveness of an intervention for both target groups. This intervention will later be used in the training of teachers and police officers and will be tested for its transferability to other professional groups (e.g. justice, social work, etc.).

COLLABORATIVE PROJECT MANAGEMENT

Prof. Dr. Nicola Brauch, Faculty of History, Ruhr-Universität Bochum

PROJECT LEADERS

Prof. Dr. Nicola Brauch, Faculty of History, Ruhr University Bochum
Prof. Dr. Alexandra Cuffel, Center for Religious Studies, Ruhr-University Bochum
ORR'in Dr. Sarah Jahn, University of Applied Sciences for Police and Administration NRW, Gelsenkirchen
Dr. Marc Grimm, Center for Prevention & Intervention in Childhood & Adolescence, University of Bielefeld
Volker Beck, TIKVAH Institut, Berlin

• "Zusatztermin zum »Testsamstag«", Artikel in der Jüdischen Allgemeine, 11.11.2019
• SWR Aktuell im Gespräch mit Sarah Jahn über die Sensibilierung von Polizeikräften, Beitrag vom 24.10.23 (Quelle: SWR Aktuell Radio)
• Interview mit Prof. Dr. Nicola Brauch und Dr. Marc Grimm im Magazin Campus-Schulmanagement zum Thema Antisemitismus in Schulen, Artikel vom 01.12.23.
• Bericht zum Hochschultag der Hessischen Hochschule für öffentliches Management und Sicherheit zum Thema: „Polizeialltag und Antisemitismus“, Pressemitteilung vom 29.11.2023
• Interview mit Marc Grimm und und Nicola Brauch: "Mit Empathie gegen Antisemitismus" im online-Magazine Campus Schulmanagement: https://www.campus-schulmanagement.de/magazin/mit-empathie-gegen-antisemitismus-nicola-brauch-marc-grimm, 23.06.2025

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