Germany's chancellor and president have strongly condemned the surge in antisemitism in Germany following the Israel-Hamas conflict. In separate appearances on Sunday, they emphasized the intolerability of such hatred in the nation that perpetrated the Holocaust.
In Berlin, thousands of people gathered at a demonstration designed to show opposition to antisemitism and support for Israel. Demonstrators carried Israeli flags and posters featuring images of individuals reported as missing or held as hostages by Hamas.
The protest, organized by a wide coalition of various groups, comes in the wake of a rise in antisemitic incidents in Germany following the violent escalation of the war in Gaza. Organizers estimated that over 20,000 people participated, while the police put the number at 10,000.
"It is unbearable that Jews are living in fear again today — in our country of all places," President Frank-Walter Steinmeier told those gathered in front of the Brandenburg Gate in Berlin. "Every single attack on Jews, on Jewish institutions is a disgrace for Germany. And every single attack fills me with shame and anger."
Chancellor Olaf Scholz, in an earlier statement, expressed his outrage over the spreading antisemitic agitation amid the ongoing Gaza war. He emphasized the unbreakable nature of the vow "never again" while inaugurating a new synagogue.
Last Wednesday, assailants threw two Molotov cocktails at a synagogue in Berlin, prompting increased police protection for Jewish institutions. Scholz, who had previously condemned the violence, expanded on his comments at the inauguration of the temple in Dessau, a city in eastern Germany where a synagogue was destroyed by the Nazis 85 years ago.
Both Scholz and Steinmeier denounced the Hamas attack on Israeli civilians on October 7, while also expressing concern for Palestinian civilians caught up in the conflict. However, their main focus was addressing the rise of antisemitism in Germany.
"I am deeply outraged by the way in which antisemitic hatred and inhuman agitation have been breaking out since that fateful October 7, on the internet, in social media around the world, and shamefully also here in Germany," Scholz said. "Here in Germany, of all places."
"That is why our 'never again' must be unbreakable," Scholz said, while he gathered with Jewish leaders at the Weill Synagogue, noting the recent growth of the community due to the arrival of people from Ukraine.
The synagogue is named after the German-born composer Kurt Weill, who fled Nazi Germany in 1933, and his father Albert Weill, a cantor in Dessau.
"This synagogue here in the middle of Dessau says that Jewish life is and remains a part of Germany. It belongs here," Scholz said. "Germany will do everything to protect and strengthen Jewish life."
Steinmeier also characterized opposing antisemitism in Germany as a "civic duty."
In response to the escalating antisemitism, police have heightened security measures for Jewish institutions in Berlin and throughout Germany.
Moreover, Israeli flags that had been flown in solidarity after the October 7 attack in front of city halls across the country have been torn down and burned. Several buildings in Berlin where Jewish individuals reside had the Star of David painted on doors and walls.
Additionally, on Sunday, police officers in Berlin surrounded participants in a pro-Palestinian demonstration at Potsdamer Platz, which had been prohibited.
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