Press Release
(Translation of the official German version)
We condemn the cowardly and vile attack on the Jewish community in Halle.
It is with horror and dismay we learn of the news of the cowardly and vile attack on the Jewish community in Halle. While the members of the community were gathered to pray on Yom Kippur, the holiest day of the Jewish year, the attacker tried to use gunfire and Molotov cocktails to forcibly gain access to the praying congregation. It is inconceivable what would have happened if the security measures of the synagogue had not withstood the attack.
It is scandalous that on a holiday like Yom Kippur the synagogue was not protected by the police.
This insidious attack must rouse all of us in our country. We all have a responsibility to resolutely oppose all anti-Jewish feelings in the neighbourhoods of our cities and in all districts! We cannot allow aggressive antisemitism to once again spread in our country. We demand that those with political responsibility significantly strengthen the protection of Jewish communities.
Our sympathy goes to the victims, their families and the injured.
Bad Nauheim, 9 October 2019
Presidium of the German Coordination Council of Societies for Christian-Jewish Cooperation