German authorities said a Syrian suspect was intending “to kill Jews” when he stabbed a tourist in Berlin on Friday, the latest in a string of attacks by refugees and asylum seekers ahead of a crucial election on Sunday.

A Syrian refugee arrested over the stabbing of a tourist at Berlin's Holocaust memorial had been planning "to kill Jews", prosecutors said on Saturday, the day before an election which is expected to see a surge in support for the anti-migrant AfD.

Authorities in Berlin have detained a teenage Syrian refugee after a man was stabbed near the city’s Holocaust Memorial late Friday – as divisive rhetoric swells over Germany’s immigration policy, ahead of a consequential national election.

Sunday’s election comes as Germany and the rest of Europe grapple with the new Trump administration, the Russia-Ukraine war and security across the continent. Letters can be opened starting at 3 p.m.

Polls are open across Germany as the world’s third largest economy chooses a new leader to guide it through an era of febrile immigration debates and souring relations with Washington.

Germans are going to the polls after an intense election campaign dominated by their country's faltering economy and a succession of deadly attacks that have made migration and security a focal issue.