Germany Confronts Historic Antisemitic Surge, Chancellor Warns Amid Kristallnacht Commemoration

Chancellor Friedrich Merz warned Monday that Germany’s resolve to safeguard its Jewish community is being put to the test, condemning the chilling images of kindergartens and synagogues fortified with bulletproof glass and guarded by armed police.

Speaking at a Munich synagogue on the 1938 Kristallnacht anniversary—a pogrom that foreshadowed the Holocaust and claimed over six million European Jewish lives—Merz declared antisemitism now everywhere.

He added, “We encounter it on our streets, in our towns and cities, across Europe and beyond, echoing in parliaments, clubs and schools.”

Thus, he emphasized, this is the true test of our pledge, ‘Never again.’

He affirmed that his administration will take all possible measures to protect Jewish lives domestically and internationally, reaffirming Germany’s longstanding support for Israel as a matter of historical responsibility.

His predecessors, Angela Merkel and Olaf Scholz, had also pledged similar protections for Jewish communities and efforts against antisemitism.

The latest annual report from the RIAS monitoring group indicates a dramatic rise in antisemitic incidents since the Israel‑Hamas war began in 2023, with 8,725 reported cases last year—more than threefold the 2022 total of roughly 24 per day.

Conservative parliament speaker Ilse Aigner, who was also nominated by Merz as the party’s candidate for Germany’s first female head of state, called the growing insecurity among Jews in Germany a national disgrace.

Kristallnacht, also known as the Night of Broken Glass, began on November 9, 1938, unleashing a wave of murders of Jews, looting of property, and the shattering of glass from synagogues and Jewish homes.

Source link