Migrants Who Reject Holocaust Responsibility Must Leave the Country: German Chancellor

BERLIN: German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, voicing concern over antisemitism at a gathering of Jewish athletes in Berlin, said migrants from Muslim-majority countries must accept Germany’s historical responsibility for the Holocaust or leave the country.
Merz was speaking at a reception for participants in Maccabiah, the international Jewish sporting event held every four years in Israel. He said Germany’s responsibility for Nazi atrocities applies to everyone living in the country, including newcomers. “This historical responsibility of our country applies equally to those who come here to Germany from Islamic countries,” he said. “And whoever does not abide by it will have to leave our country.”
His remarks came after a basketball coach attending the event raised concerns about the safety of Jewish athletes, saying some feared being attacked in public while wearing red Maccabi training jackets bearing the Star of David. In response, Merz recalled former German President Richard von Weizsäcker’s landmark 1985 speech to parliament on the 40th anniversary of the end of World War II. In it, von Weizsäcker distinguished between responsibility for crimes committed under Nazi rule and the responsibility of later generations to confront their historical legacy. “Young people are not responsible for what happened then. But they are responsible for what becomes of it in history,” he said.
Merz called the statement an enduring principle that should guide German society. “And this applies to German society as a whole. And I would add, in view of current circumstances: it also applies to migrants coming to Germany,” he said.
Merz’s comments also come against a backdrop of rising hostility toward Muslims in Germany, where rights groups have voiced concern over growing discrimination, threats and violence targeting the community. According to a report released in June by the Alliance Against Islamophobia and Anti-Muslim Hate (CLAIM), Germany recorded 4,096 anti-Muslim incidents in 2025, up from 3,080 the previous year, an increase of about 33 percent.