Merz decries ‘horrifying’ antisemitism in Germany, reiterates commitment to protecting country’s Jews, on Kristallnacht anniversary

German Chancellor Friedrich Merz says that Germany faces a test of its commitment to protecting its Jewish community, as he decries the “horrifying sight” of kindergartens and synagogues protected by bulletproof glass and armed police.

Speaking at a Munich synagogue on the anniversary of the Kristallnacht pogrom in 1938, in which dozens of Jews were murdered and their synagogues and properties were destroyed, Merz says antisemitism had become “omnipresent.”

“We see and hear it on our streets, in our towns and cities, in the towns and cities of our European neighbors and around the world, in parliaments, in clubs, and in schools,” he says.

“And that is why this is now the moment of truth for the ‘Never again’ that we utter so often,” he says.

He says his government will do everything in its power to protect Jewish life in Germany and abroad, and restates Germany’s longstanding support for Israel, which he said “is part of our historical responsibility.”

In previous years, Merz’s two predecessors as chancellor, Angela Merkel and Olaf Scholz, made similar commitments to protect Jewish life and institutions in Germany and to combat antisemitism.

According to the most recent annual report from RIAS, a monitoring group, antisemitic incidents have been occurring on a “dramatic scale” since the October 2023 Hamas attack, which sparked the war in Gaza, with 8,725 reported last year — more than three times the number in 2022, or around 24 every day.

Ilse Aigner, the Bavarian parliament speaker nominated earlier in the day by Merz as the conservatives’ candidate to become Germany’s first female head of state, says the insecurity felt by many Jews in Germany was “a disgrace for our country.”

“Kristallnacht,” or the “Night of Broken Glass,” was a wave of killings of Jews and looting and destruction of their property that began on November 9, 1938. The name refers to the broken glass that littered streets outside synagogues and Jewish shops and homes.