Charlotte Knobloch dismayed by AfD success in Saxony-Anhalt

Charlotte Knobloch, president of the Jewish Community of Munich and Upper Bavaria, is dismayed by the electoral victory of the nationalist Alternative for Germany (AfD) party in the Saxony-Anhalt state election. Knobloch told DW that there were now once again a number of Jewish people who, in the wake of such events, were considering leaving Germany.

It took decades, Knobloch said, for Jews in Germany to regain trust in the country after the Holocaust. That had ultimately been achieved.

But now, there were great fears again: "That is, in sum, the biggest problem for me, because we successfully tried to rebuild the Jewish communities after 1945, to give the Jewish people a home again, which they hadn't had for a long time..."

Standing up against the far-right 'requires some courage'

In Saxony-Anhalt's September 6 state election, the AfD, classified as "confirmed right-wing extremist" by the state's Office for the Protection of the Constitution, had received almost 44% of the vote. Although AfD lead candidate Ulrich Siegmund fell short of an absolute majority, he still has a good chance of becoming the next premier in the state parliament, meaning he'd become the first head of a state government from a right-wing extremist party after World War II.

Charlotte Knobloch issues a stark warning: "We can't allow any of those people to become state premier. It is a very dangerous situation at the moment, in my view. I hope the other parties realize that and stand up against it. They can do it. It requires some courage of course."

Charlotte Knobloch, who is almost 94 years old, is one of the most prominent and well-known representatives of Jewish life in Germany and one of the last surviving witnesses of Nazi dictatorship between 1933 and 1945. Born in 1932, she was initially raised by her grandmother, who was deported to the Theresienstadt concentration camp in 1942 and died there. A family acquaintance saved the girl by accommodating her on her farm in Middle Franconia and passing her off as her own child.

Knobloch: 'danger looming' today did not exist like this 10 years ago

Asked by DW when and how she still thinks about that horrible era, she said: "There were times when this happened only rarely. When it was mentioned by the media from time to time, but not permanently. These days, I wake up thinking about it, and I also go to bed thinking about it."

Knobloch served as vice president of the World Jewish Congress between 2005 and 2013, and as president of the Central Council of Jews in Germany from 2006 to 2010. For a long time, she has been warning against growing antisemitism in Germany. However, she herself did not foresee the rise of far-right extremist parties like the AfD.

"There's a danger looming that did not exist in this form ten years ago," Knobloch said. "There have always been Nazis, there have always been Jew haters, but not in the way as it's the case today."

In Knobloch's view, the established parties have up to now failed to speak out decisively against the AfD: "Today's political parties must jointly, not alone, address the issue. I still see a chance here, that people will at least be willing to listen and discuss it. And that's very, very important."

Young people need to be included in the conversation

Politicians have to speak to young people in particular more intensively and address their fears, which isn't happening enough, Knobloch says.

"There's talk about it, but there is no real discussion, because young people are naturally afraid that what they say will become public. What I want to say is, we'll have to find ways to bring young people back into the fold."

Last week, Knobloch received death threats. On Thursday, a witness discovered the scrawled threats on a park bench and a rubbish bin in the English Garden in Munich and informed the police, according to a police headquarters statement. Knobloch subsequently canceled her attendance at an event. The threats were directly linked to the AfD's election victory in Saxony-Anhalt, a spokeswoman said in response to a query from the dpa news agency.