Police said they are investigating death threats made against a senior Jewish leader in Germany, after she criticized the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party.

A witness found graffiti scrawled in white ink on a park bench and a trash bin in Munich’s English Garden park, threatening the life of 93-year-old Holocaust survivor Charlotte Knobloch,, the Munich Police Department said in a statement.

Police confirmed that  the threat contained the phrase “Die AfD hat gewonnen, morgen hängen wir die Knobloch,” which translates to, “The AfD has won, tomorrow we’ll hang Knobloch.” The witness reported the graffiti to police and an investigation was launched on Wednesday, Sept. 9.

Knobloch, chair of the Jewish Community of Munich and Upper Bavaria, canceled plans to attend a public event as an audience member right after learning of the threat, the Jewish Telegraphic Agency has confirmed with the Jewish Community in Munich.

The Munich Criminal Investigation Department has categorized the incident as a case of incitement to hatred, threats, and property damage, and has asked witnesses to contact police.

The AfD won 43.8% of the votes in the state of Saxony-Anhalt on Sept. 6. The election set the stage for a right-wing party to control a German state government for the first time since the Nazi era. But the AfD fell three seats short of a majority and has yet to secure enough support to form a government, Reuters reported Sept. 11.

“I condemn the death threat against Charlotte Knobloch unequivocally and without reservation,” Stephan Protschka, state chair of AfD Bavaria, told JTA in an e-mail Sept. 15. “We take very seriously the fact that the graffiti explicitly referenced the AfD’s election success in Saxony-Anhalt,” he said, while urging patience as police investigate.

“Political disagreements or election results can never justify threats, intimidation, or violence against any individual,” he said, adding that  “Ms. Knobloch and all people of Jewish faith in Bavaria must be able to live safely and without fear of threats and violence.”

Knobloch, an ardent critic of the AfD, had said immediately after the Sept. 6 election that the party’s record of success “frightens me.” In a statement released at the time  by her office, she said that she “couldn’t have imagined even in my worst nightmares that right-wing extremists could win elections in Germany again in this way.”  She has long called for the party to be banned.

In a Sept. 15 email to JTA, Knobloch said threats don’t stop her from speaking out. “If I were to intervene less often, I don’t believe that would appease the enemies of Jewish life. That’s why I’m convinced we have to keep going,” she wrote.

Knobloch said the recent state election was further evidence that “the power of the political center is crumbling,” under pressure from the extreme left and right. Threats like the one under investigation would have been on the fringe in the past, she added. Today, there is “a party amplifying, rather than diminishing, fantasies of revenge and violence in public discourse.” And that party “as things stand, could win a federal election.”

The Department for Research and Information on Antisemitism (RIAS) has a reporting mechanism for witnesses or victims, and provides statistics to federal and local authorities. Antisemitic crimes may be motivated by left, right or Islamic extremism, but the specific reference to the AfD and a specific target made this case unusual, spokesperson Felix Balandat said. “We have not recorded anything like that before,” he told JTA.

Munich Mayor Dominik Krause (Greens) asked in a public address, “How many more death threats, how much Nazi rhetoric, how many more deportation announcements do we actually need”  before the federal government initiates steps towards banning the AfD.

Meanwhile, in Berlin, a woman was injured in a suspected antisemitic attack, according to city police.

Early on Sept. 11, two men attacked a 43-year-old woman in the Mitte section of Berlin. The attackers, who fled the scene, commented on her wearing a Star of David and shouted antisemitic insults at her, Berlin police said.

One of the men allegedly attacked her with a broken glass bottle, police said. While defending herself, she suffered several cuts to her hand. Paramedics transported her to a hospital for treatment. The State Security Unit of the State Criminal Police Office has taken over the investigation.

According to RIAS, more than 2,000 antisemitic and anti-Israel insults, threats, acts of vandalism and attacks were registered in Berlin in 2025, slightly down from 2024 but still more than twice as many as before the attacks on Israel on October 7, 2023.

Despite recent events, Knobloch believes Germany is still a safe and prosperous country and a good home for Jewish people. “I’m less certain today than I was a few years ago that this will still be the case in 20 or 30 years,” she said. “But one shouldn’t simply extrapolate negative outcomes. Everything can turn out for the best.” 

This story has been updated to add comments from Stephan Protschka, state chair of AfD Bavaria, and Holocaust survivor Charlotte Knobloch.