Karl Lagerfeld Claims Taking In Refugees Is Embracing The Enemies Of Jews
Image by Jamie McCarthy/Getty Images
According to a report in the Times of Israel Chanel designer Karl Lagerfeld evoked controversy this week when he made an appearance on French talk show Canal 8 and eviscerated German Chancellor Angela Merkel for her open borders policy.
According to a translation provided by the Times, Lagerfeld said, “You cannot kill millions of Jews and then take in millions of their worst enemies afterwards, even if there are decades [between the events].”
He went on to claim that Merkel was trying to rebrand “after the wicked step-mother image she gave herself in the Greek crisis.”
Lagerfeld’s statement induced hundreds of critical comments claiming that Lagerfeld’s statements were racist and Islamophobic. France’s Higher Audiovisual Council is currently investigating the matter.
Michelle Honig is a style writer at the Forward. Contact her at [email protected]. Find her on Instagram and Twitter.
The Forward is free to read, but it isn’t free to produce
I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward.
Now more than ever, American Jews need independent news they can trust, with reporting driven by truth, not ideology. We serve you, not any ideological agenda.
At a time when other newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall and invested additional resources to report on the ground from Israel and around the U.S. on the impact of the war, rising antisemitism and polarized discourse.
This is a great time to support independent Jewish journalism you rely on. Make a gift today!
— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO
Support our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.
Dive In
-
Life A comprehensive guide to the best Hanukkah songs of all time, from ‘I have a little dreidel’ to the latest Wicked parodies
-
Life What is Tu B’shvat? A guide to Judaism’s most underrated holiday
-
Life Chanel had a complicated relationship with Jews — until Karl Lagerfeld showed up
-
Life COVID-19 changed shiva traditions — will one of the most beloved ever return?
Most Popular
- 1
Opinion The dangerous Nazi legend behind Trump’s ruthless grab for power
- 2
Opinion A Holocaust perpetrator was just celebrated on US soil. I think I know why no one objected.
- 3
Culture Did this Jewish literary titan have the right idea about Harry Potter and J.K. Rowling after all?
- 4
Opinion I first met Netanyahu in 1988. Here’s how he became the most destructive leader in Israel’s history.
In Case You Missed It
-
Culture Trump wants to honor Hannah Arendt in a ‘Garden of American Heroes.’ Is this a joke?
-
Opinion Gaza and Trump have left the Jewish community at war with itself — and me with a bad case of alienation
-
Fast Forward Trump administration restores student visas, but impact on pro-Palestinian protesters is unclear
-
Fast Forward Deborah Lipstadt says Trump’s campus antisemitism crackdown has ‘gone way too far’
-
Shop the Forward Store
100% of profits support our journalism
Republish This Story
Please read before republishing
We’re happy to make this story available to republish for free, unless it originated with JTA, Haaretz or another publication (as indicated on the article) and as long as you follow our guidelines.
You must comply with the following:
- Credit the Forward
- Retain our pixel
- Preserve our canonical link in Google search
- Add a noindex tag in Google search
See our full guidelines for more information, and this guide for detail about canonical URLs.
To republish, copy the HTML by clicking on the yellow button to the right; it includes our tracking pixel, all paragraph styles and hyperlinks, the author byline and credit to the Forward. It does not include images; to avoid copyright violations, you must add them manually, following our guidelines. Please email us at [email protected], subject line “republish,” with any questions or to let us know what stories you’re picking up.