Merz says Germany faces historic test over rise in antisemitism

BERLIN: 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 neighbors and around the world, in parliaments, in clubs and ⁠in schools,” he ⁠said.