Germany’s effort to confront its dark history has often been called a model for other countries in atoning for their past atrocities. Memorial sites across the country recognize the Nazis’ crimes, all schoolchildren are taught about the Holocaust, and glorification of the Third Reich is prohibited.

Yet, in recent years critics have pointed to a worrying turn. For Germany’s historical responsibility toward Jews is today manifested as unflinching support for the state of Israel, enforced across public life. Anti-Zionism, or even strong criticism of Israel, is routinely labeled antisemitic, and voices supportive of Palestinian rights are increasingly silenced. Often, this takes the troubling form of the claim that while Germans have dealt with antisemitism, immigrants are reintroducing it.

This trend has accelerated sharply in the wake of Hamas’s attack on Israel on October 7 and Israel’s ensuing bombardment of Gaza, which led to a reported rise in antisemitic and Islamophobic incidents in Germany. Police have banned or repressed many pro-Palestine protests, even when organized by Jewish groups; state-funded cultural institutions have disinvited artists and intellectuals from events, or stripped them of awards, for showing solidarity with Palestinians; and the interior ministry has proscribed the phrase “From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free” under legislation used to criminalize the Nazi swastika.