A Jewish woman has accused police officers of doctoring her photo ID to give her an anti-Semitic ‘hooked nose’.
Annika Hernroth-Rothstein says she was photographed at the police station near Stockholm in Sweden, but did a ‘double take’ when she saw the picture.
In a social media post, the 38-year-old journalist said she was wearing a Star of David necklace at the time and handed in employment papers from an Israeli newspaper, as well as proof of ID with two ‘very Jewish names’.
She then claimed she was given a new ID and her nose had been ‘doctored’.
Ms Hernroth-Rothstein, who writes for the Israel Hayom and the Jerusalem Post, said she was ‘scared and uncomfortable’, so didn’t immediately complain to officers.
But when a ‘non-Jewish friend’ told her it ‘made him sick’, she said she ‘had to say something’.
She told Metro.co.uk: ‘I did a double take when I got the ID but I actually left with it and didn’t say anything because I felt really scared and uncomfortable.
‘Then I showed it to my non-Jewish friend today and he said it made him sick and I had to say something.
‘And now I’m glad I did and I’ll file a complaint because I feel encouraged by the fact that I’m not the only one seeing the anti-Semitism in this.
‘As a Jew, sometimes you’re scared to sound the alarm on these things because inevitably people will say “that’s a technical error” or “you Jews are seeing anti-Semitism everywhere”, but this seems pretty blatant.’
The Swedish police have admitted it’s possible to ‘manipulate’ their digital systems and they are investigating Ms Hernroth-Rothstein’s allegations.
However, several other Swedish nationals have since posted pictures of their IDs with similar ‘hooked’ noses.
A Twitter user called Inas shared her photo ID and claimed the distorted nose was the result of the nose tip and lip being ‘blurred together’.
And a man called Henrik said he was given a little ‘Hitler moustache’ in his ID.
A Jewish ‘hook nose’ is a centuries-old racial stereotype, which has been used by anti-Semites throughout history.
It was a popular racist trope used by the Nazis in their anti-Semitic propaganda to spread fear and Jewish hatred in German society.
Ms Hernroth-Rothsteinsent sent Metro.co.uk a photo of her previous ID to show the difference in the two noses.
She added: ‘I felt scared and unsafe because it was government personnel who did this. It’s really different from someone yelling at me in the street.’
Magnus Roglert, from the Swedish Police Authority, said they are investigating to see if the photo was manipulated, or if the image was distorted by ‘bad resolution’.
He said there is ‘always a risk that digital systems are manipulated’ so the police take the allegations ‘seriously’.
Mr Roglert told Metro.co.uk: ‘We will, of course, take a closer look at the matter and we therefore ask the person to contact us as soon as possible.
‘We are back-tracking the matter to see if a manipulation has happened or if the image just is distorted by shadows and/or bad resolution.
‘When an image for a national ID card is taken in a photo booth at a police station somewhere in Sweden, a digital and automated process takes place.
‘It’s all digitalised, but there is always a risk that digital systems are manipulated, so we take this seriously.
‘Our IT department is looking in to if there was a problem with the laser engraving in this specific batch of IDs.’
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