Large numbers of Jews may leave Germany if the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) enters a future governing coalition, Josef Schuster, head of the Central Council of Jews in Germany, said Tuesday.
Schuster was speaking at a retreat held in the Seeon Monastery in Bavaria for members of the conservative Christian Social Union (CSU) who sit in the federal parliament in Berlin.
He described the situation for German Jews as "increasingly problematic" in recent years.
Schuster said that opinion polls for state-level elections in Germany this year filled him with great concern. He saw government participation for a far-right party like the AfD as "definitely problematic for Jewish life in Germany."
And at the federal level, Jewish life in Germany would no longer be compatible with a party like the AfD in government, he said.
Schuster expressed the hope that Germany's conservative parties, including the CSU, had realized that a far-right party that would not only threaten Jews but would also seek close ties with Russia could not be a coalition partner.
He described anti-Semitism in Germany as more than an underlying problem, particularly in the AfD, despite attempts to "keep it under wraps."
Five of Germany's 16 states are to hold parliamentary elections this year. The AfD is currently polling at 38% in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern in the north-east, well ahead of other parties. And in Saxony-Anhalt, polls put it at 40%, again well in the lead.
