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BERLIN — To shake or
not to shake.
That is the question
bedeviling billions around
the world as the coronavirus
spreads nefariously from
continent to continent.
Whether it’s still safe to
shake hands in the age of
the epidemic is an especially
touchy issue in Germany
and across Europe, where
the handshake custom is
thought to have originated
more than 2,000 years ago
and it’s arguably more com-
monplace than anywhere
else.
Angst about the wisdom
of continuing such a deeply
entrenched tradition before
and after essentially every
meeting of friends, family
and business partners is
spreading across Europe as
fast as the virus itself. In
Germany, even its leader,
Chancellor Angela Merkel,
felt a need to weigh in on the
issue Friday evening with a
message to all Germans —
not shaking is OK now.
“I’m not going to shake
anyone’s hand tonight,”
Merkel said bluntly at the
end of a speech to about 400
local business leaders and
constituents in her electoral
district of Stralsund, where
she would normally be
expected to press the flesh
with hundreds, if not quite
all those in attendance. She
urged Germans to stay calm
and respond prudently to
the epidemic that spread to
Europe from Asia in recent
weeks.
There are now 262 con-
firmed cases of coronavirus
in Germany — although no
deaths have been reported
— and the number has been
rising daily.
“Germany is among the
countries with the best
possible conditions to deal
with this virus,” she said,
just hours after Berlin or-
ganizers announced that
the world’s biggest travel
convention, the March 4-
ITB Berlin, was being can-
celed even though 160,
people from around the
world were expected.
“Not every event needs to
be canceled. And on top of
that, every single one of us
can make a contribution,”
she said, before making the
reference to not shaking
hands.
The Western custom of
shaking hands is believed to
date to antiquity. A funeral
stone from the 5th century
BC on display in Berlin’s
Pergamon Museum shows
two Greek soldiers shaking
hands.
The act was believed to
be a symbol of peace — to
show that that neither man
was carrying a weapon in his
right hand. Some historians
have said the shaking ges-
ture was added by knights
in the Middle Ages as a way
to probe if any knives were
being concealed up the
other person’s sleeve and
could be shaken out.Whatever the origins of
the gesture now considered
a polite and almost essential
way to greet someone in
many Western cultures, it is
the ubiquitous manner in
which Germans of essen-
tially all ages introduce
themselves. It’s customary
for Germans to shake hands
when they meet someone
for the first time, as is the
case in many other coun-
tries. But foreigners are
often bewildered by how
widespread handshaking is
here: Germans will also
often shake hands with
everyone in the room at the
start and end of meetings —
as well as on their birthdays
with just about everyone in
the office or even the entire
building.
Children readily learn
the ins and outs of haende-
schuetteln from a preschool
age and every member of a
soccer, basketball or volley-
ball team will usually shake
hands with everyone else
before and after every prac-
tice or game. Construction
workers and tradesmen
often spend the first five or
10 minutes of their shifts
shaking hands with every-
one on site — and repeat the
practice at quitting time.
There is also a strict
etiquette that men have to
first offer their hand to
women present before
shaking hands with any
other men around, and that
those with a higher rank in
the pecking order are sup-
posed to initiate the hand-
shake. Also, it is generally
impolite for the younger
person involved to initiate
the handshake.
These rules occasionally
lead to awkwardly comical
scenes where Germans are
seen thrusting but then
dramatically withdrawing
in embarrassment their
outstretched arms when
they realize either a woman
or a more senior man is
discovered standing nearby.
To decline an invitation
to shake an outstretched
hand is considered a serious
insult in Germany — and
President’s Trump inten-
tional or unintentional
avoidance of Merkel’s handat the White House in March
2017 continues to reverber-
ate as the ultimate rebuke in
the German media.
Trump later said he did
not hear photographers
asking for the two leaders to
shake hands.
“I’ve been avoiding shak-
ing anyone’s hand lately
because of the coronavirus,”
said Dagmar Rettkowski, a
72-year-old retired airline
worker who used to shake
scores of hands with every-
one on her Berlin volleyball
team — and recalled that in
Communist East Germany
shaking hands was even
more prevalent than in
reunited Germany. “Now I
just smile, raise my arm and
wave and say ‘hello’ to every-
one. It works fine.”
German companies such
as Volkswagen and Lufthan-
sa have issued warnings to
their employees to refrain
from shaking hands with
colleagues and customers.
“Do not shake other
people’s hands and try to
avoid contact with door-
knobs as well as pens and
other belongings from other
people,” Lufthansa wrote in
a medical advisory to em-
ployees in Germany. Posters
reading “Hoeflich ohne
Haendedruck – Machen Sie
mit” (Being polite without
shaking hands — take part)
were seen at Volkswagen
plants, according to Bild
newspaper.
The coach of German
professional soccer team
TSV 1860 Muenchen,
Michael Koellner, said last
week that he and his players
would no longer shake
hands with one another or
opposing teams before and
after games and hoped the
entire Bundesliga profes-
sional league would follow
suit.
“I’ve stopped shaking
hands with patients, and
I’ve been trying to avoid
shaking anyone’s hand
anymore, even though it’s
sometimes almost impos-
sible to avoid,” said Martina
Henrich, a general practitio-
ner in Berlin. “People can
pass along more germs
shaking hands than
through kissing. In timeslike this, I’d urge everyone to
avoid unnecessary hand-
shaking.”
That’s a message Israeli
Prime Minister Benjamin
Netanyahu was evidently
trying to spread last week
when he declined to shake
hands at a campaign event
in Hebron. Instead, he re-
portedly bowed and offered
the Hindu greeting “nama-
ste” — which is made by
placing the palms together,
thumbs against the chest
and head bowed.
Handshakes are consid-
ered a Western custom in
many Asian countries and
so, aside from handshake-
filled business meetings, the
issue may not be as press-
ing. Bowing at a 45-degree
angle is considered the
polite salutation in Japan
while bows or nods without
physical contact are suffi-
cient in South Korea, Tai-
wan and elsewhere. There is
also a Chinese greeting that
involves making a fist with
one hand and using the
other hand to cup it.
“In a lot of other coun-
tries and cultures, people
tend to shake hands far less
than we do in Germany,”
said Markus Fruehwein in
an interview. The Munich
physician and tropical
medicine expert said he had
been avoiding handshakes.
“If you’re looking for ways to
help prevent the spread of
illnesses, skipping the hand-
shake and offering a smile
instead is a good idea. It
sometimes doesn’t go down
well when you pull back
from shaking hands with
patients, but most under-
stand it now.”
“Usually it’s completely
normal to shake hands as a
sign of respect and appreci-
ation, but who would really
want to endanger someone
else so unnecessarily?” said
Barbara Engelmann, a
56-year-old Berlin teacher.
“A friendly smile and being
direct about the issue works
wonders. I’ve had nothing
but good experience so far
in turning down hand-
shakes like that.”
Along with smiles in-
stead of handshakes, some
Europeans are switching to
fist bumps, elbow bumps,
hat tips and simple nods.
Others are hoping for the
coronavirus to pass soon
enough so that no one will
be afraid of shaking hands
anymore.
“I think this is just going
to be a temporary adjust-
ment in behavior because of
the coronavirus situation,”
said Cem Oezdemir, a
leader in the Greens party,
in an interview that took
place without a handshake.
“I don’t think shaking hands
will disappear forever from
Germany. It’s part of who we
are. It makes sense to re-
frain now. But I’m sure it’ll
come back and I’m looking
forward to it because shak-
ing hands is an important
part of my job.”Kirschbaum is a special
correspondent.BACK STORY
When it’s safer to be rude
It’s hard for Germans not to shake hands, even if there is an outbreak
By Erik KirschbaumANGELAMerkel, right, with other leaders in De-
cember, told Germans it is OK not to shake hands.Peter NichollsPool PhotoA smaller than usual crowd prays around the Kaaba, the cubic building that is Islam’s most sacred site, in
the holy city of Mecca in Saudi Arabia on Wednesday. The kingdom on Wednesday banned its citizens and
other residents from performing the pilgrimage in Mecca, while Iran canceled Friday prayers in major
cities. The decisions affected both Sunni and Shiite Muslims alike. The Saudi move expands a ban last
week on foreigners visiting Mecca and Medina, home to the holiest sites in Islam. That decision alone
disrupted travel for thousands of Muslims already headed to the kingdom and potentially affects plans
later this year for millions more ahead of the fasting month of Ramadan and the annual hajj pilgrimage.1,000 WORDS: MECCA, Saudi Arabia
Amr NabilAssociated PressWORSHIP CURTAILED