A 65-year-old board member of the Bundesbank is once again making headlines in Germany – for the wrong reasons.

Thilo Sarrazin has barely left the front pages after a string of provocative remarks on race and integration.

He is promoting a book, out on Monday. His latest claim: “all Jews share a common gene”. Stephen Kramer from the German Central Council of Jews thinks many will simply turn the other cheek:

“He is skating on thin ice, which is just what he likes to do. He is trying to pitch ethnic minorities against each other. But I think Jewish people are capable of thinking for themselves, they won’t let themselves be set up like this, against other communities.”

Sarrazin has says Germany is “becoming” Muslim, and its Turkish and Arab immigrants are
“only good for selling fruit and vegetables.”

There have been calls from all sides for him to step down from the Bundesbank and the Social Democratic party, but he has refused, saying his claims are based on evidence from culture and not ethnicity, and denying he is racist.

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