Knobloch warns of danger after AfD election success in Saxony-Anhalt

Charlotte Knobloch, president of the Jewish Community of Munich and Upper Bavaria, told DW that the AfD’s strong result in Saxony-Anhalt had revived fears among Jewish people and prompted some to consider leaving Germany. She urged established parties to oppose the party and said she had recently received death threats linked to the election result.

Charlotte Knobloch, president of the Jewish Community of Munich and Upper Bavaria, has warned that the Alternative for Germany’s electoral success in Saxony-Anhalt is creating a dangerous situation for Jewish people in Germany. In an interview with DW, she said some Jews were again considering leaving the country after the nationalist party’s strong performance.

The AfD received almost 44% of the vote in the state’s September 6 election, according to the supplied source. The state’s Office for the Protection of the Constitution classifies the party as “confirmed right-wing extremist.” Although AfD lead candidate Ulrich Siegmund did not win an absolute majority, the source said he still had a good chance of becoming premier, which would make him the first head of a state government from a right-wing extremist party since World War II.

Knobloch said it had taken decades for Jews in Germany to regain trust in the country after the Holocaust. She described rebuilding Jewish communities after 1945 and creating a home for Jewish people as a major achievement, but said the election had renewed fears about that future. “We can’t allow any of those people to become state premier,” she told DW, urging other parties to act against the possibility.

She also said the rise of far-right parties posed a threat different from the antisemitism she had previously witnessed. Knobloch argued that established political parties needed to address the issue together and communicate more directly with young people, whose fears and views, she said, were not being discussed openly enough.

The source identifies Knobloch as one of Germany’s prominent Jewish representatives and one of the last surviving witnesses of the Nazi dictatorship. She said memories of that period had recently become more immediate, describing thoughts about it upon waking and before going to sleep.

Last week, death threats were found written on a park bench and a rubbish bin in Munich’s English Garden, according to a police headquarters statement cited by the source. Knobloch canceled an event, and a spokeswoman said the threats were directly linked to the AfD’s election victory.