Skip To Content
JEWISH. INDEPENDENT. NONPROFIT.
Fast Forward

Israeli woman in Germany says her neighbor tried to break in after hearing her speak Hebrew

(JTA) — An Israeli woman living in Germany said her neighbor, a former parliamentary worker for a left-wing party in Germany, tried to break into her home after hearing her speak Hebrew.

The Israeli, 26-year-old Coral Guter, told police that the May 3 incident happened days after Katrin Wengler overheard Guter speaking Hebrew on the phone days earlier. Wengler, 46, is a former office manager for Holger Mann, a lawmaker for the SPD party in the state parliament of Saxony.

On Facebook, Guter wrote that Wengler had told her that Hebrew’s a “bad language.”

In the May 3 incident, according to Guter, Wengler shouted at her: “Leave this country already, you don’t belong here, you are a foreigner!” and threatened to have Guter “deported.” Wengler blocked Guter from entering the building, hit her in the chest and threatened her with a knife, Guter wrote.

Guter quoted Wengler as saying: “Get out of here, go back to your country, I will call the immigration police who will take you from here, go back to Israel.” Wengler tried to break into Guter’s apartment while she was inside with her roommate, Guter wrote.

Guter said she called police twice until Wengler stayed away from Guter’s apartment.

Wengler, who has worked for the Green Party for years and at the SPD until 2014, denied using violence or anti-Semitic language.

“I use a walking aid, I can’t assault anyone,” Wengler told the Tag24 news site.

The State Criminal Police Office is investigating the incident, Tag24 reported.

The post Israeli woman in Germany says her neighbor tried to break in after hearing her speak Hebrew appeared first on Jewish Telegraphic Agency.

A message from our CEO & publisher Rachel Fishman Feddersen

I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning, nonprofit journalism during this critical time.

At a time when other newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall and invested additional resources to report on the ground from Israel and around the U.S. on the impact of the war, rising antisemitism and polarized discourse.

Readers like you make it all possible. Support our work by becoming a Forward Member and connect with our journalism and your community.

—  Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO

Join our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.

Republish This Story

Please read before republishing

We’re happy to make this story available to republish for free, unless it originated with JTA, Haaretz or another publication (as indicated on the article) and as long as you follow our guidelines. You must credit the Forward, retain our pixel and preserve our canonical link in Google search.  See our full guidelines for more information, and this guide for detail about canonical URLs.

To republish, copy the HTML by clicking on the yellow button to the right; it includes our tracking pixel, all paragraph styles and hyperlinks, the author byline and credit to the Forward. It does not include images; to avoid copyright violations, you must add them manually, following our guidelines. Please email us at [email protected], subject line “republish,” with any questions or to let us know what stories you’re picking up.

We don't support Internet Explorer

Please use Chrome, Safari, Firefox, or Edge to view this site.