German President Steinmeier Warns Antisemitic Crimes Have Hit Record High as Germany Marks 1938 Pogroms

German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier has called on Germans to confront antisemitism wherever it appears, saying a record rise in anti-Jewish crimes has left him angry at a time when the country is remembering the Nazi pogroms of November 1938.

“We must stand against hatred of Jews, regardless of whether it comes from the political fringes on the right or left, from the center of society or from Islamism,” Steinmeier said Monday, November 9, at the Buchenwald memorial near Weimar.

He urged people to defend Jews facing discrimination, insults and violence in everyday life.

“Let us not remain silent, let us not downplay what is happening, let us not stand by and watch,” he said. “That is the lesson of November 9, 1938.”

Steinmeier described the revival of Jewish communities in Germany after the Holocaust as both a gift and a sign of trust rebuilt over decades.

“It is a great gift that Jews were able to regain trust in Germany over the decades following the Shoah,” he said, welcoming the flourishing of Jewish life across the country.

But he expressed dismay that Jewish people were once again being threatened and assaulted in German streets, and that synagogues required stronger protection. He said antisemitic crimes had reached a record high since the Hamas attacks on Israel on October 7, 2023.

“It saddens me — no, it makes me angry,” Steinmeier said.

The ceremony marked 88 years since the Nazi-organized attacks of November 9–10, 1938, when synagogues, Jewish homes and businesses were destroyed and around 30,000 Jewish men were sent to concentration camps. Nearly 10,000 were deported to Buchenwald.

Steinmeier said Germany’s democratic institutions remained strong, but stressed that preventing hatred and violence required action from society as well as the state.