German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier marked November 9 as a historically significant date in Germany and called for protecting the country’s democracy as it faces major challenges.
“Never in the history of our reunified country has democracy and freedom been so under attack,” he said in a speech held at his Bellevue Palace residence in Berlin.
He said both of these aspects are currently threatened by “right-wing extremist forces who attack our democracy and are gaining public acceptance.”
“Just waiting for the storm to pass and hiding for a while is not enough,” he said. “We must act. We can act!”
Steinmeier said that far-right actors used the “sweet poison of anger” to convince people that “the people at the top” were the enemy, luring the public “with promises of authoritarian leadership” and making Germany “great again.”
But, he said, Democrats have a lot to counter: “We have the law. We have freedom. We have humanity. We have the knowledge of where hatred leads.”
Steinmeier warns against cooperation with extremists
There should be no political cooperation with extremists in the government or parliament, he said in an oblique reference to the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party, which is gaining popularity and is already the strongest opposition force in the national parliament.
However, he said banning a party is a last resort in a democracy and a move that needs to be carefully examined and evaluated.
But, he said, “we should not sit idle while considering such a measure”.
Referring to events on November 9 that have marked Germany – the proclamation of a republic in 1918, the night of the pogrom against the Jewish community in 1938 and the inauguration of the Berlin Wall in 1989 – Steinmeier said the date was “for light and shadow, for the darkest abyss and for the happiest hours of our history”.
Regarding the November massacre of 1938, the President said that anti-Semitism has not returned to Germany, but “has always been there.”
“We have to fight anti-Semitism no matter where it comes from,” he said.