Holocaust survivor tells German lawmakers she is ‘afraid again to be Jewish’

In speech to Bundestag, Tova Friedman urges MPs to ‘use your power to fight’ resurgent antisemitism, as ‘Jews around the world again feel exposed, targeted and hated’

By AFP 28 January 2026, 9:06 pm

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Holocaust survivor Tova Friedman addresses delegates and state authorities during a commemoration for the victims of the Holocaust at the Bundestag on January 28, 2026 in Berlin. (Tobias SCHWARZ / AFP)

BERLIN, Germany — Tova Friedman, one of the dwindling band of Holocaust survivors, took to the floor of the German parliament Wednesday to urge lawmakers to get “tougher” on resurgent antisemitism.

In a speech that left some MPs visibly moved, 87-year-old Friedman recounted her experiences as a survivor of the Auschwitz extermination camp and appealed to those present to “use your power to fight.”

“Don’t let antisemitism grow and bloom here,” she said.

Born in 1938 close to Danzig (modern-day Gdansk in Poland), she survived Auschwitz after being sent there at the age of five, together with her mother.

Her family emigrated to the United States after the war, where she became a psychotherapist.

“I walked out of Auschwitz thinking I’ll never have to be afraid again to be Jewish, never again, but here we are,” she said.

“Now, 81 years later, much of the world has turned against us,” Friedman told the audience.

“I just hope with all my heart that you become, say, a little tougher” in combating antisemitism, she told those present, including Chancellor Friedrich Merz and President Frank-Walter Steinmeier.

“Jews around the world again feel exposed, targeted and hated,” she said.

Friedman gave the example of her own grandson having to hide his Star of David and her granddaughter leaving her student dormitory after being harassed.

The President of the Bundestag, Julia Kloeckner (R), Holocaust survivor Tova Friedman (C) and her grandson Aron Goodman (R) gesture as they pose for a group photo on International Holocaust Remembrance Day, January 28, 2026, in Berlin. (Tobias SCHWARZ / AFP)

“Shouts of: ‘Hitler was right!’ and ‘Gas the Jews’ are heard on the streets of New York, Paris, Amsterdam, London,” she said.

She was applauded for several minutes at the end of her speech, held as part of a special session to commemorate Nazi Germany’s murder of six million European Jews during World War II.

Germany has grown increasingly alarmed about rising antisemitism since the October 7, 2023, Hamas attack on Israel that sparked the war in Gaza.

A record 6,236 antisemitic crimes were recorded in 2024, compared with just 2,641 in 2022, according to figures from the federal domestic intelligence agency (BfV). Nearly half of those incidents were attributed to right-wing extremism.

The far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party has a narrow lead in some national polls, and the party includes figures who have called for the country to move away from its “culture of remembrance” of Nazi atrocities.