German Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD) has reaffirmed the protection of Jewish life in Germany and expressed his “joy” over the release of three Hamas hostages.
“We look and we act when citizens of our country are targeted because they are Jewish” he said on Sunday at the commemoration of the Jewish Community of Frankfurt for the 80th anniversary of the liberation of the Auschwitz extermination camp. “That’s why our security authorities protect the Jewish communities.”
Furthermore, he emphasized the importance of the culture of remembrance. “Our responsibility does not end.” He rejects “any conclusion, any `long time ago`” and said, “Our common claim, which we must never abandon, must be that Jewish Germany is just as self-evident, just as everyday as Germany of any other faith and also of no faith. Unfortunately, we are still far from that. That is and remains appalling.”
It would have been “naive” to believe that in an immigration society, everyone would eventually adopt the same perspective on our history just because they live here, Scholz continued. “Jewish life is Frankfurt. Jewish life is Germany. That’s us. That remains, 80 years later, and we will continue to defend it with all our might, every day.