The Marais neighbourhood of Paris has experience of anti-Semitic rants. The Marais was very Jewish until 1942. Today there are plaques everywhere – in our local park, on our local school – commemorating murdered children.

Fashion designer John Galliano was arrested here in February after an alleged anti-Semitic rant in local bar La Perle. Galliano says he has “no recollection”. On September 8, a Parisian court delivers its verdict. Christian Dior has already sacked him. This is a familiar ritual. A famous person – Lars von Trier, Charlie Sheen, Silvio Berlusconi – makes anti-Semitic comments, and the world sits up. That’s because these remarks, especially when made in Europe, occur before a certain backdrop: those plaques on schools. The question is whether incidents such as Galliano’s reveal a disquieting reality. How strong is anti-Semitism in Europe now?

Polls suggest it is still powerful. This year, the German political foundation the Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung surveyed intolerance among 8,000 Europeans in eight countries. Some highlights: 69 per cent of Hungarians agreed that “Jews have too much influence” in Hungary; most Portuguese and about a quarter of French, Germans and Britons said that “Jews in general do not care about anything or anyone but their own kind”; and 72 per cent of Poles and nearly half of Germans believed that “Jews try to take advantage of having been victims during the Nazi era.”