In Germany’s fourth-biggest city, Cologne, the only person providing Jews with kosher products is a Muslim from Iran.
In a small convenience store, around the corner from Cologne’s Roonstrasse synagogue, Kambiz Alizadeh, sells a variety of kosher goods from frozen poultry and red meat to gefilte fish to hummus.
The former rabbi of Cologne, Netanel Teitelbaum, first suggested that Alizadhe bring some kosher wine gum. Alizadeh was happy to do so but did not know where to get kosher items. Rabbi Teitelbaum made the connection to a vendor in Belgium and since then the amount of kosher items has grown. He has even spent time with kosher food supervisors to learn more about Jewish dietary laws.
Today, his shop gets kosher certified goods from Israel, the Netherlands, Poland and the Czech Republic and offers some 250 products, including a range of 50 wines.
Until now the Jews of Cologne, of which there are only around 5,000, had to manage without a kosher store. They either traveled to nearby cities with larger Jewish communities, such as Frankfurt, Antwerp or Amsterdam, or had kosher goods delivered to them by mail at great cost.
Alizadeh says, “It’s impossible to make a living from this. In Cologne, you have no chance to survive by running a kosher-only store.” For only a small fraction of the 5,000 Jews who live in Cologne actually keep kosher.
Regarding the growing anti-Semitism in Europe, Alizadeh says “I am not afraid about my security, otherwise I wouldn’t do it”
Though running a kosher shop in Germany apparently is still not without risks, there is no sign in the storefront indicating that kosher products are sold here. This inconspicuousness is certainly intentional but it was not Alizadeh’s idea.
While he has never been attacked or even threatened, the security guards responsible for the Roonstrasse Synagogue, just 100 meters from his store, advised him against announcing his kosher section in the shop window. A nearby pharmacy that had several flags in its storefront, including the Israeli one, was constantly vandalized, he was told.
To ensure people know about about his kosher goods, he advertises in the Jewish community’s monthly and operates a website called Koscherland.
Alizadeh says “Community members ask me often about security. They are more worried about me than I am.”