The German leader was addressing a ceremony on the 85th anniversary of the Night of Broken Glass or Kristallnacht, a spasm of orchestrated violence that ushered in the Nazi's slaughter of six million European Jews during World War II.
FILE - German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier hugs German Holocaust survivor Margot Friedlander as she arrives to take part in talks titled "War in the Middle East: For a peaceful life together in Germany" on November 8, 2023 at the presidential Bellevue Palace in Berlin.
The chancellor said "never again" meant keeping the memory of Nazi atrocities alive, rejecting "terror propaganda" and ensuring that citizens and migrants alike respect Germany's "free democratic order which demands and guarantees diversity and respect."Scholz said rising anti-Jewish sentiment in Germany, given the weight of its historical crimes, was "shameful" for the country. "It outrages and shames me deeply," he said.
- 2,000 anti-Semitic incidents -
On November 9-10, 1938, Nazi thugs murdered at least 90 Jews, torched 1,400 synagogues across Germany and Austria and destroyed Jewish-owned shops and businesses.
The pretext for the coordinated action was the fatal shooting on November 7, 1938, of a German diplomat in Paris by a Polish Jewish student.
The Nazis rounded up and deported at least 30,000 Jews to concentration camps and made Jews pay "compensation" for the damage caused to property.
FILE- German Holocaust survivor Margot Friedlander holds her Jewish Star of David she had to wear in Nazi Germany, as she takes part in a round table on a cohabitation without anti-semitism and islamophobia, on November 8, 2023 at the presidential Bellevue Palace in Berlin.
On October 7 this year, Hamas gunmen stormed across the border into Israel, killing 1,400 people, mostly civilians, in their homes, on the streets and at a rave party.
The deadliest attack since the founding of Israel led it to declare war on Hamas, with Israeli forces heavily bombarding Gaza and sending in ground troops with the aim of destroying the Islamist movement. The Hamas-run health ministry said more than 10,500 people, mostly civilians and many of them children, have been killed in the territory.
Since the Hamas attack, some 2,000 anti-Semitic incidents linked to the Israel-Hamas conflict have been reported so far in Germany, federal police said. Authorities have boosted security around Jewish institutions.
In October two men hurled Molotov cocktails at the Beth Zion synagogue in Berlin. No one was hurt, but the attack left many Jews in the capital rattled.
FILE - A woman holds a photo of her father killed at the Nazi death camp Sachsenhausen as she attends a rally against anti-Semitism near the Brandenburg Gate in Berlin, Sunday, Sept. 14, 2014.
Pro-Palestinian rallies on German streets have in some cases gathered far-right and far-left extremists chanting anti-Israel and anti-Semitic slogans and sparked clashes with police.
Scholz, most of his cabinet and President Frank-Walter Steinmeier attended the ceremony at Beth Zion, along with the president of the Central Council of Jews in Germany, Josef Schuster, 102-year-old Holocaust survivor Margot Friedlaender, and family members of Israelis held hostage by Hamas.
- 'A time of threats' -
Schuster warned that extremists felt emboldened to take their hatred and Holocaust denial onto Germany's streets and social media, leaving the country's 200,000-strong Jewish community feeling threatened.
FILE - Tables and chairs stand in the burned out Jewish-run bar 'Morgen wird Besser' (Morning will be better) in Berlin, Germany,Aug. 21, 2020. The Jewish-run bar was destroyed in an arson attack on Aug. 14, 2020.
"There are parallels between the mentality of radical Islamists who want the extermination of Israel and the Jews, and those on the far right who despise our culture of Shoah remembrance."
However he said Germany's Jews were "self-assured" and standing together in "a time of threats."
FILE - A man (R) is confronted by demonstrators after having spat into the crowd during a march and rally in support of Israel and the hostages being held by Palestinian militant group Hamas, in Berlin, Germany on November 5, 2023.
"We will not be intimidated -- that is also one of the lessons of the historic pogrom experience from November 9, 1938."
Germany, still atoning for the Holocaust, has placed the protection of Israel at the heart of its foreign policy.
It has approved 10 times more in military gear exports to Israel so far this year, official data showed Wednesday, as Berlin said it was prioritising requests from the country after Hamas's deadly attack.