After Germany renovated a synagogue in Munich that was destroyed during the Kristallnacht Pogrom, Germany Chancelor visited the synagogue and delivered an emotional speech, declaring war on antisemitism.
By Rachel Avraham
“We are declaring war on every form of old and new antisemitism in Germany,” German Chancellor Friedrich Merz said during a highly emotional speech commemorating the reopening of a Munich synagogue, which had been destroyed during the Kristallnacht pogrom but was recently renovated, the Jerusalem Post reported.
According to the Jerusalem Post, Merz spoke “on behalf of the entire Federal Government of the Federal Republic of Germany,” adding that he will work to combat all antisemitism, whether through political or legal means, using “every legislative measure that is possible for us and that is necessary.”
“We will not tolerate antisemitism even when it is disguised under the pretense of freedom, of art, of culture, or of science,” he told the audience on Monday, the Jerusalem Post added. “”The services that will be held here starting today, the cultural events … will all take place under police protection. Police are stationed in front of Jewish kindergartens, schools, restaurants, and cafes throughout Germany. Antisemitism has never disappeared from the Federal Republic,” he told DW. He also emphasized his own shame for this “as Chancellor of the Federal Republic of Germany; as a German; as a child of the post-war generation.”
“Jewish life in Germany will one day get by without police protection again,” Merz declared, the Times of Israel reported. “We must not get used to the fact that this has been necessary for decades.” He told DW: “”For too long, we in politics and society have closed our eyes to the fact that some of the people who have come to Germany in recent decades were socialized in countries of origin where antisemitism is practically state doctrine, and hatred of Israel is instilled in children.”
The Reichenbachstrasse Synagogue was built by architect Gustav Meyerstein in 1931, designed in the Bauhaus and New Objectivity style, the Times of Israel reported. According to the report, it originally featured amber-colored marble around the Torah shrine, turquoise blue on the walls, and a Pompeian red design in the foyer.
After the Kristallnacht riots of November 9 and 10, 1938, the Nazis turned the Reichenbachstrasse Synagogue into a workshop and warehouse, the Times of Israel noted. After the war ended, Jewish survivors made minor repairs and consecrated it in 1947 as the main synagogue of Munich, a role it served until the Ohel Jakob Synagogue was opened in 2007, the Times of Israel reported.
Led by German entrepreneur and journalist Rachel Salamander, the synagogue has now been faithfully restored in a minimalist style, with simple wooden benches, colored walls and stained glass windows, the Times of Israel stressed. According to the report, it will serve as a cultural space as well as a functioning synagogue.
Merz’s speech in the synagogue in Reichenbachstrasse constituted his first speech inside a synagogue as an elected politician, DW reported. A few weeks after the October 7th massacre, he was a guest at the synagogue on Brunnenstrasse in Berlin, along with many other politicians, DW reported. Just a few days later, he visited the Jewish high school in the center of Berlin, and again five months later, DW reported. Afterwards, Merz was visibly shaken by the students’ fears in the face of antisemitic attacks, DW noted.
“Openly identifying as Jewish, wearing a kippah or Star of David, has become problematic in quite a few neighborhoods in Berlin,” Josef Schuster told DW ahead of the celebration. Nevertheless, DW reported that despite the Holocaust, Germany today has a lively Jewish community, consisting of 250,000 people and nearly half of them are members of one of Germany’s 105 Jewish congregations.
Photo from Steffen Prößdorf: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Friedrich_Merz#/media/File:2024-08-21_Friedrich_Merz_in_Erfurt_2024_STP_3041_by_Stepro_(3x4_cropped).jpg
