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Max Privorozki lays flowers on a memorial plaque for the victims of the attack
Photo: Hendrik Schmidt / dpa
Saxony-Anhalt's Interior Minister Holger Stahlknecht (CDU) has been criticized for days because of controversial statements on police protection for Jewish institutions.
Now this was also loud at the commemoration of the anti-Semitic attack in Halle.
The chairman of the city's Jewish community, Max Privorozki, said at the event in the Ulrichskirche in Halle: "That really scared me."
In a report in the "Mitteldeutsche Zeitung", the minister was quoted after a visit to a police station as saying that there were no working hours to protect Jewish institutions elsewhere.
Criticism of Stahlknecht does not stop
The anti-Semitism commissioner of the federal government, Felix Klein, told the "taz": To portray Jews as privileged people, for whom measures would be taken at the public's expense, actually stirs up anti-Semitism.
"Unfortunately, Jewish communities need increased security, but that's not because of the Jews, it's because of the threats against them."
Since the beginning of the week, the criticism of Stahlknecht has not stopped.
After the memorial event, the politician spoke again of a misunderstanding that he felt sorry for.
"The protection of Jewish institutions is my top priority, and I also advertised this to our population," he told the dpa news agency.
He had previously stated in a statement that he was "deeply affected and shocked that my statements have obviously caused a misunderstanding".
Steinmeier warns of anti-Semitism
On October 9, 2019, a heavily armed man first attacked the synagogue in Halle and then a nearby kebab shop.
He shot two people and injured others until he was caught.
Even then, critics had complained that no police car was posted in front of the synagogue on Yom Kippur, the highest Jewish holiday, but only an irregular patrol.
After the attack, Stahlknecht ordered all-round surveillance for Jewish facilities.
At a memorial event, Federal President Frank-Walter Steinmeier called for people to stand against anti-Semitism and misanthropy.
Anti-Semitism is a seismograph for the state of democracy.
"We must therefore be alarmed when critics of the Corona measures revive old anti-Semitic conspiracy theories and spread them millions of times," said Steinmeier.
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