Reuters
Source: Reuters
Chancellor Friedrich Merz said on Monday that Germany faced a test of its commitment to protecting its Jewish community as he decried 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, which foreshadowed the Nazi Holocaust that would eventually slaughter more than 6 million European Jews, Merz said 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 neighbours and around the world, in parliaments, in clubs and in schools,” he said.
“And that is why this is now the moment of truth for the ‘Never again’ that we utter so often,” he said.
He said his government would do everything in its power to protect Jewish life in Germany and abroad, and restated 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.
