Agency Report –
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz on Thursday said it was “outrageous and shameful” that the Jewish community still faces discrimination, 80 years after the liberation of the Auschwitz concentration camp.
At an event in Berlin organized by the International Auschwitz Committee, Scholz said, “Anyone who supports terrorism, anyone who incites anti-Semitism, must expect to be prosecuted” in Germany.
“We do not tolerate anti-Semitism,” he added.
Scholz said that combating anti-Semitism is a task for all citizens, especially in light of “increasingly shameless attempts to normalize far-right positions.”
“On the contrary: let’s stand up and fight back,” said the chancellor.
The Holocaust is a “responsibility that each and every one of us bears in our country – regardless of family history, regardless of religion or the birthplace of our parents or grandparents,” Scholz said.
Up to 6 million Jews were killed by Nazi Germany during the Holocaust, according to the latest research described on the Yad Vashem Holocaust memorial website.
Around 1 million were murdered in the Auschwitz extermination camp which was liberated by Soviet troops 80 years ago, on January 27, 1945.
January 27 has been observed as Holocaust Remembrance Day in Germany since 1996.
