Jews in germany

What AfD's election victory in Germany's Saxony-Anhalt could mean for Jewish life - analysis

Siegmund faced criticism over his attitude toward Germany’s Nazi past. In a 2025 interview, he refused to answer whether he considered the Holocaust the most horrific crime in history.

A supporter of the Alternative for Germany (AfD) party holds a German flag as she attends AfD top candidate Ulrich Siegmund's campaign event ahead of the upcoming Saxony-Anhalt state elections in Magdeburg, Germany, September 4, 2026. REUTERS/Annegret Hilse
Lead candidate Ulrich Siegmund of the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) political party, makes a selfie with a supporter during the final campaign rally on the eve of state elections in Saxony-Anhalt on September 5, 2026 in Magdeburg, Germany.

How will an AfD victory in Saxony-Anhalt impact Germany - and should Jews be worried?

 An Israeli flag flutters next to a German and a EU flag, one day after Hamas' attacks on Israel, outside the Reichstag building in Berlin, Germany, October 8, 2023.

With AfD gaining traction in eastern Germany, what would a far Right win mean for Jews? - analysis

Germany granted citizenship to 6,756 Israelis in 2025, making its embassy in Israel the country's largest passport office outside Europe.PremiumPremium

'Insurance certificate for escape': Israelis reclaim German citizenship in record numbers


Interim head of scandal-ridden German seminary vows changes, won't replace top rabbi

Rabbi Walter Homolka has been on leave since early May, when allegations of sexual harassment and abuse of power against him broke into public view.

 Attorney Gabriele Thöne, interim director of the Abraham Geiger College and former state secretary, and attorney Micha Guttmann, photographed during a press conference about allegations of sexual harassment against the director of the college, in Potsdam, Germany, June 1, 2022.

Why are Ukrainian Jews fleeing to Germany? - opinion

Many Jewish Ukrainian refugees – no one know how many, but it is certainly thousands - are choosing to come to Germany. Why?

 JDC evacuating Ukrainian Jews to Moldova.

Lost Torah scroll reappears in German town 83 years after disappearance

The Torah had not been seen since Kristallnacht, the pogrom against synagogues and Jewish property in German-speaking lands on Nov. 9 and 10, 1938.

 Uwe Mader with the Torah scroll fragments he handed over to the city of Görlitz, Thursday, Dec. 16, 2021.

Munich Jewish conference postponed amid wave of COVID cases

After the most recent lockdown in Munich ended in May, many community leaders had invested in reinvigorating communal activity. Now, locals are gearing up to instead celebrate Hanukkah alone.

 Jews listen to prayers at the Ohel Jakob Synagogue in Munich, Nov. 23, 2021.

My German grandmother’s childhood autograph book survived the Holocaust

Jenny Katz Bachenheimer's book, known in German as a “Poesiealbum,” accompanied the family when my mother and grandparents escaped the Nazis in the 1930s.

 The author's grandmother, Jenny Katz, in 1927, the year before she married Siegfried Bachenheimer.

German police do push-ups on Holocaust monument

Accessible to the public, visitors are asked to refrain from performing offensive behaviors at the memorial • acts of indecency have been reported in the past

THE MASSIVE cemetery-like Holocaust Memorial in Berlin.

6,500 Holocaust survivors to receive pension from Germany for first time

6,500 Holocaust survivors will receive pensions from Germany, including Russian, German, Israeli and French nationals who hid in Nazi-occupied territory.

An original yellow star (not on general display) is seen at the artifacts department of the Yad Vashem World Holocaust Remembrance Center in Jerusalem, ahead of the Israeli annual Holocaust Remembrance Day, April 10, 2018

Angela Merkel’s departure from politics is a sad moment for many German Jews

For the German and wider European Jewish establishment, Merkel's departure marks the loss of a reliable partner for the Jewish community.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel lights a candle at the memorial of the divided city and the victims of communist tyranny during a ceremony marking the 30th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall at the Wall memorial on Bernauer Strasse in Berlin, Germany, November 9, 2019

What are Jews voting for in Germany’s elections?

Jews make up less than 1% of Germany’s population of 83 million; for many, Jewish issues pale in comparison to some that the entire country is wrestling with, such as climate change and inequality.

A man carries a wooden Star of David as people attend a demonstration themed with the slogan "#unteilbar" (indivisible) to protest against antisemitism, racism and nationalism in Berlin, Germany, October 13, 2019.

There may be hope for Germany yet where antisemitism is concerned

Perhaps there is hope for Germany through education of the young, to show antisemitism and anti-Israel propaganda for what it is – an indoctrinatory tool for extremists.

The Alte Nationalgaleria Museum in Berlin