Man stabbed near Berlin’s Holocaust Museum – plus, German elections coming soon
German police arrested a suspect after a stabbing at Berlin’s Holocaust memorial left a person seriously injured on Friday evening local time.
Police haven’t yet given a motive or made any connection between the stabbing and the Holocaust memorial, known as the Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe, or the U.S. Embassy located nearby.
The stabbing also came two days before Germany’s national elections on Sunday.
The victim, whose injuries are not life-threatening, was identified as a 30-year-old Spanish tourist, according to The Associated Press.
“Our forces have detained a suspect in the vicinity of the crime scene,” Berlin police posted on X. “Investigations continue.”
During a news conference, police spokesperson Florian Nath said the attack happened around 6 p.m., “probably with a knife. Maybe with something else.”
The suspect was arrested around three hours later after he was seen near the memorial.
“He had blood on his hands, and this made him very suspicious,” Nath said.
This one actually may be a crazy person. Walking around with blood on his hands? The suspect’s name hasn’t been released.
Speaking of German elections, here’s a report:
The frontrunner to become the next German chancellor is Friedrich Merz, leader of the center-right Christian Democratic Union party. Polls show the CDU enjoying a comfortable lead, with 28% support.
But it’s the rise of the far-right Alternative for Germany party that has caught the attention of many analysts ahead of this election. The AfD has surged in popularity and is currently polling second, expected to take about 21% of the vote, while the liberal Social Democratic Party (SPD) is polling at 16%, and the Greens at 14%.
That indicates that a coalition will probably be required. But the other parties have ruled out a coalition with Alternative for Germany. What is the AfD? I’m always wary when any party is called “far right,” especially in Europe. It tends to mean against mass immigration, especially from Muslim countries, which doesn’t seem so very far right to me. Let’s see if we can tease it out from its Wiki page:
Alternative for Germany is a far-right and right-wing populist political party in Germany. The AfD is Eurosceptic.
Well, that’s about what I thought. Nothing so “far” about that. And by the way, when I started my search, every single article had the phrase “far-right” in the headline.
However, it definitely seems as though elements in the party – or certainly who support the party – are antisemitic and either Holocaust deniers or Holocaust minimizers. It’s no surprise that any party devoted to German nationalism would attract that element. The Hamas-loving antisemitism of the left and the more traditional anti-Semitism of the right have that perennial favorite – antisemitism – in common.
Young people in particular seem attracted to the AfD. That’s not surprising, considering the disruption that all the newcomers have caused. Simply put, the more traditional parties failed to protect the country from decline and violence, and young people are attracted to a party that promises to reverse that trend.
Apparently AfD is much stronger in the former East Germany than they are in the west as AfD has much more support in the working class which is much larger on the former communist parts of the country.
‘Spiked’ has some really good video interviews with their German correspondents talking about the election and AfD specifically.
My wife is German and we go to Germany to visit her relatives about once a year (our next visit is in a few weeks). The German media coverage of the AfD makes CNN look like paragons of objective journalism. As in the UK, there is very little to choose from the major parties (the SPD and CDU). The AfD exists because all of the other parties refused to acknowledge the problems that mass migration to Germany has caused. But now the stabbings and rapes by “asylum seekers” are becoming so common that they are hard to ignore.
Any German party that appeals to nationalism is going to suffer the obvious comparison to Nazis. And there are certainly extremists in the AfD, particularly in the former East Germany. But the party’s leader, Alice Weidel (who is married to a woman), certainly doesn’t look or sound like a far-right extremist. Her interview with Elon Musk is worth a listen.
While I don’t think the AfD will overtake the CDU in Sunday’s elections, I suspect it will be much closer than the experts are predicting. Germany is in real trouble thanks to a combination of terrible decisions regarding energy policy and migration. I still enjoy my visits to Munich, but I have noticed a decline in the quality of life in recent years and the mainstream parties still seem clueless about how how to solve the problems.
Yes, as Griffin points out.
For a handful of nights I was at a hostel next to Old Town Prague at the start June. All was quiet on the weekend until a group 8 or so late teen German guys showed up to drink.
Passing the Jaeger, these “Ossies” got me into the latest drinking toast, especially among the young.
I casts aspersions upon the “Auslander” or foreign immigrants…always ending on “Rrrrrraus!” (or OUT!) Loudly and triumphantly delivered en mass.
I expect the election ends closer than polls say. As with Trump, pollsters cannot measure the submerged AfD voter. He and she are suspicious and offended and defensive.
Meaningfully closer. Thr Uling Class is playing with dynamite. But since the Netherlands, Denmark, and countries to the North and their elections, maybe not.
I’m always wary when any party is called “far right,”
Agreed.
I am reminded of starting grad school in the 1980s, after working in the oil fields in Latin America. I mentioned to my housemate that pre-1981, a taxpayer got put into a higher tax bracket even when the salary increase only kept up with inflation. “That’s a very right wing thing to say,” my housemate replied. (No big surprise that he ended up in the professoriate.)
In an online discussion about Chavista Venezuela, a commenter stated that I got my news about Venezuela from right-wing Fox News. I replied that I got my news from Venezuelan-run blogs about Venezuela. (the Devil, Caracas Chronicles, Ven News & Views.)
And so forth.
I have walked through that Memorial. Not sure I like it, but it isn’t up to me.
Interesting thing though, it was several hundred yards from the parking lot that the Fuhrer Bunker lies underneath.
German here. Our politics are utterly, batshit crazy. Counting the AfD (not AfG), the CDU/CSU and possibly the FDP (our “classical liberals”, which essentially gave up every single position in favor of freedom during their last stint in the governing coalition, for which they will probably halve their votes in tomorrow’s election), there is a solid majority for reducing illegal immigration and deporting criminal migrants.
So, totally naturally, it is quite possible for us to get a minority left-to-far-left government. All because the AfD cannot possibly be worked with. (See https://www.eugyppius.com/p/jd-vance-was-right-that-there-is, in English – Eugyppius is EXTREMELY good on German politics) Even the CDU passing non-binding resolutions with AfD votes led to an outcry, vandalism of CDU property, and (astroturfed) demonstrations.
The media are carefully avoiding any discussion of what the AfD actually propose to do. They are not calling for deportations of assimilated foreigners. They are calling for (a) deportations of criminal migrants, (b) pushbacks of illegal migrants at the border (currently you only have to say the word “asylum” at the border, and the police are legally obliged to let you in, papers or no), (c) an end to asylum status if the reasons for asylum have disappeared, (d) actually deporting asylum seekers whose request has been denied and who are therefore obligated to leave (but still are allowed stay in Germany for years), and (e) stricter conditions on getting German citizenship (which the leaving left-Green-FDP coalition made a lot easier).
However, the media persist in comparing the AfD to the nazis in 1933, and they are successful: completely assimilated and honestly working non-Germans are convinced that the AfD will immediately deport them or worse if it ever comes to power. And of course any sign of the CDU collaborating with the AfD is met with howls of outrage. (Which is understandable: marginalizing the AfD is essential for the left-wing SPD and the Greens, because as long as the AfD is off the table, these two are the only remaining option for the CDU to set up a coalition with.)
So, roughly one fifth to one fourth of German voters are effectively disenfranchised. All this in the name of “protecting democracy”.
As I wrote: batshit crazy.