Incitement against Jews in Germany: Steinmeier laments “unbearable anti-Semitism”


Status: 09/01/2021 4:35 p.m.

Federal President Steinmeier laments the unbroken spread of anti-Semitism in Germany. Especially in the corona pandemic, anti-Semitic conspiracy myths got a new impetus.

Federal President Frank-Walter Steinmeier complains that the “worst anti-Semitic conspiracy myths” experienced a new impetus in the corona pandemic. “It pains me and makes me angry that anti-Semitic hatred and anti-Jewish agitation are so open – in Germany of all places,” he said in Berlin. The Federal President expressed himself in a message of greeting on the Jewish New Year festival Rosh Hashanah.

“This is unbearable”

“I very much wish I could tell you that the attack in Halle had turned things around,” Steinmeier wrote. But that is not the case. “Jews in Germany continue to be mocked, degraded and violently attacked,” said the Federal President. This is “unbearable” and it is “the duty of the state and society to counter this hatred. Because everyone who is at home in this country has every right in the world to feel safe, protected and in good hands here”.

In the attack in Halle in October 2019, a right-wing extremist tried to break into the city’s synagogue armed. When he failed, he shot a passerby who happened to be passing by and later a young man in a diner in the street. The perpetrator has now been convicted of two murders and multiple attempted murders.

“There is so much to discover about Judaism”

Steinmeier also expressed his gratitude for the many events that this year commemorate 1700 years of Jewish life in Germany. “There is so much to discover and rediscover: Jews have helped to write and shape German history, have made our culture shine,” emphasized the head of state.



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