"On Monday evening, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz struggled to hold back his tears as he gave an emotional speech celebrating the reopening of the synagogue in Munich. The synagogue on Reichenbachstrasse was originally opened in 1931 and was severely damaged by the Nazis in 1938. It is one of those small but significant stories of Judaism in Germany, which was almost destroyed by the Nazis, but has returned in all its diversity."
"A few weeks after the terrorist attack carried out by Hamas in Israel on October 7, 2023, he was a guest at the synagogue on Brunnenstrae in Berlin, along with many other politicians. Just a few days later, he visited the Jewish high school in the center of Berlin, and again five months later. Afterwards, Merz was visibly shaken by the students' fears in the face of antisemitic attacks."
"Merz soon turned to the "crime against humanity of the Shoah," the Holocaust, the attempt at the "systematic, industrialized extermination of the Jewish people." His voice breaking, Merz paraphrased German-Jewish historian and philosopher Hannah Arendt (1906-1975), saying that such radical evil, as Arendt described it, "simply should not have happened among us humans." It was the first of two speeches by the German Chancellor on the situation for the Jewish community in Germany within 48 hours."
German Chancellor Friedrich Merz became emotional while celebrating the reopening of the Reichenbachstrasse synagogue in Munich. The synagogue originally opened in 1931 and suffered severe damage by the Nazis in 1938. The event highlighted the survival and return of Jewish life in Germany with diverse communities. Merz greeted older community members including 92-year-old Charlotte Knobloch and Central Council chairman Josef Schuster. He referenced the Shoah as a crime against humanity and paraphrased Hannah Arendt, calling such radical evil unimaginable among humans. Merz previously visited synagogues and a Jewish high school after the October 7, 2023 attacks and reacted to students' fears. He is keynote speaker at a Central Council reception marking its 75th anniversary.
Read at www.dw.com
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