Jews could leave the country if the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) makes gains in state elections next month, the German government’s commissioner for combating antisemitism, Felix Klein, warned. “Many Jewish families are indeed thinking about whether they should live somewhere else — even if they have not yet acted on those thoughts,” Klein said in an interview with the Kölner Stadt-Anzeiger.
Klein, who is ending his tenure this month after being appointed in 2018, described as “worrying” a scenario in which a party, parts of which are classified by the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution as “clearly far-right,” assumes political responsibility at the state level.
Elections in Saxony-Anhalt will be held on September 6, while elections in Berlin and Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania will take place on September 20.
Klein’s warning comes amid what he described as a deterioration in the situation of Germany’s Jews. “The quality of life of Jewish men and women in Germany has declined,” he said.
More than 6,000 antisemitic incidents were recorded last year, a record high, compared with fewer than 1,500 when he took office.
