Skip To Content
JEWISH. INDEPENDENT. NONPROFIT.
Life

Karl Lagerfeld Claims Taking In Refugees Is Embracing The Enemies Of Jews

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.

A message from our CEO & publisher Rachel Fishman Feddersen

I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning, nonprofit journalism during this critical time.

We’ve set a goal to raise $260,000 by December 31. That’s an ambitious goal, but one that will give us the resources we need to invest in the high quality news, opinion, analysis and cultural coverage that isn’t available anywhere else.

If you feel inspired to make an impact, now is the time to give something back. Join us as a member at your most generous level.

—  Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO

With your support, we’ll be ready for whatever 2025 brings.

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 credit the Forward, retain our pixel and preserve our canonical link 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.

We don't support Internet Explorer

Please use Chrome, Safari, Firefox, or Edge to view this site.