Merz Warns of Omnipresent Antisemitism on Kristallnacht Anniversary

The German chancellor's public address at a Munich synagogue signals that antisemitism has re-entered mainstream European political discourse as a recognized governing concern, not merely a...

German Chancellor Friedrich Merz delivered a formal warning on Monday that antisemitism is again widespread in Germany and across Europe, speaking from inside Munich's Ohel Jakob Synagogue on the 88th anniversary of Kristallnacht, the November 1938 Nazi-organized pogrom that killed dozens of Jews and destroyed hundreds of synagogues across Germany and Austria. The Munich synagogue shares its name with one of the houses of worship burned during those events.

Merz said antisemitism had become "omnipresent" in Germany, according to reporting by the New York Post. Speaking in German, Merz stated: "We see it and hear it on our streets, in our cities, in the cities of our European neighbors and throughout the world, in parliaments, in associations and in schools." He added that antisemitism is "sometimes disguised in the language of" other causes, without specifying which causes he was referencing at that point in his remarks.

The choice of venue carried direct historical weight. The original Ohel Jakob Synagogue in Munich was destroyed during Kristallnacht on November 9 and 10, 1938. The current Ohel Jakob Synagogue opened in 2006 and serves as the main Jewish house of worship in Munich today, according to the Jewish Community of Munich and Upper Bavaria's public records.

Kristallnacht, also known as the Night of Broken Glass, resulted in the deaths of at least 91 Jews in direct violence, the arrest and deportation of approximately 30,000 Jewish men to concentration camps, and the destruction of more than 7,500 Jewish-owned businesses, according to records held by the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. The event is widely regarded by historians as a turning point in the Nazi regime's systematic persecution of Jews.

Merz's remarks come amid documented increases in antisemitic incidents across Germany in recent years. Germany's Federal Government Commissioner for Jewish Life reported in its most recent annual figures that antisemitic crimes registered by German police rose to 3,614 incidents in 2023, up from 2,639 in 2021, according to the German Federal Government's published statistics.

The chancellor did not name specific political movements or parties as the source of the problem in the excerpts reported, but his reference to antisemitism appearing in "parliaments" was notable given the electoral gains made by the Alternative for Germany party, known as AfD, in the 2025 federal elections. The AfD, which entered the Bundestag with its largest-ever vote share in that election, has faced repeated official and judicial scrutiny over antisemitic statements by some of its members, according to records from Germany's domestic intelligence agency, the Verfassungsschutz.

Merz, who leads the center-right Christian Democratic Union and became chancellor following the February 2025 federal election, has previously made combating antisemitism a stated policy priority. His government has not yet released a formal legislative package specifically targeting antisemitism as of the date of this report.

The address also comes in the context of broader European debates about antisemitism linked to the ongoing conflict in Gaza, which began following the Hamas-led attacks on Israel on October 7, 2023. European Union monitoring agency data published by the European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights has recorded increased reports of antisemitic incidents in multiple EU member states since that date.

Human Rights Watch and other international organizations have called on European governments to distinguish between legitimate political speech regarding Middle East policy and antisemitic rhetoric. That distinction was implicitly referenced in Merz's comment about antisemitism being "disguised" in other forms of language, though the full text of his remarks was not available in the sources reviewed for this report.

What remains unknown is whether the Merz government intends to follow the speech with specific legislative or enforcement proposals. The German Federal Ministry of the Interior would be the body most likely to announce any such measures, and no announcement had been made as of November 10, 2026.