Overview
- Chancellor Friedrich Merz warned in Munich on Monday that Germany faces a ‘moment of truth’ for its promise of ‘Never again’ as he described antisemitism as omnipresent and visible in public life.
- Merz pledged that his government will do everything in its power to protect Jewish life at home and abroad and restated Germany’s longstanding political support for Israel.
- Data from the antisemitism monitor RIAS shows a dramatic rise in incidents, with 8,725 reports in 2025—more than three times the number recorded in 2022—which officials cite as evidence of a sustained security problem.
- Jewish institutions now rely on high walls, bulletproof glass and armed security, a change leaders called a ‘horrifying’ sign that open Jewish life in Germany remains constrained and that short-term protection cannot replace longer-term cultural work.
- Speakers at Munich commemorations, including survivor Charlotte Knobloch and historian Isabel Heinemann, used testimony and new research on the 1938 pogroms to urge education, family reckoning and public engagement to prevent antisemitism from becoming normalized.