German Holocaust remembrance under fire from far right

As the world remembers Auschwitz, the German far right has pushed back against the country's tradition of Holocaust remembrance, now with backing from US tech billionaire Elon Musk.

"I think there's too much of a focus on past guilt and we need to move beyond that," the ally of US President Donald Trump told an Alternative for Germany (AfD) rally in a video discussion at the weekend.

US tech billionaire and businessman Elon Musk (L) is seen on a large screen as Alice Weidel, co-leader of Germany's far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party, addresses an election campaign rally in Halle, eastern Germany on January 25, 2025. AFP

"Children should not be guilty for the sins of their great grandparents," he told supporters of the AfD, an anti-immigration party he has strongly supported ahead of February 23 elections.

Musk's comments flew in the face of those made by Chancellor Olaf Scholz to mark 80 years since the liberation of the extermination camp in what was Nazi-occupied Poland and on the "civilizational rupture" of the Holocaust.

"Every single person in our country bears responsibility, regardless of their own family history, regardless of the religion or birthplace of their parents or grandparents," Scholz said in a speech.

Timing worsens impact of remarks

Musk's comments were all the more divisive as they came ahead of Monday's 80th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz, where more than one million Jewish people and over 100,000 others died between 1940 and 1945.

Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk, whose country is hosting commemorations, was quick to criticize slogans made at Saturday's rally, although he did not mention Musk by name.

"The words we heard from the main actors of the AfD rally about 'Great Germany' and 'the need to forget German guilt for Nazi crimes' sounded all too familiar and ominous," the Polish leader wrote on X.

"Especially only hours before the anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz".

Scholz, who went to Poland for the anniversary events, responded to Tusk's message: "I couldn't agree more, dear Donald."

Remembrance of the Nazis' genocide of Jews and other atrocities has for decades been a central feature of German politics and society as the country seeks to atone for its past.

Schoolchildren are taught about the Holocaust and German political leaders frequently declare "never again".

AfD's controversial stance grows bolder

But the AfD, now polling in second place on around 20 percent, has long courted controversy by calling for Germany to stop focusing on atoning for its World War II crimes, including the genocide of six million European Jews.

One of its former leaders, Alexander Gauland, once notoriously described the Nazi era as just "a speck of bird poo" in German history.

Last year Bjoern Hoecke, one of the AfD's most radical leaders, was convicted and fined twice for using a banned Nazi slogan, "Alles fuer Deutschland" (Everything for Germany).

Bjoern Hoecke, leader of the far right-wing Alternative for Germany party (AfD) attends a state parliament session, a few weeks after the AFD emerged as the strongest party, in Erfurt, Germany, September 28, 2024. Reuters

Despite its popularity, the AfD is unlikely to enter government after the February 23 polls, as all mainstream parties have ruled out working with it.

And many Germans remain fiercely opposed to the party. Tens of thousands rallied in cities across the country on Saturday against the far right.

Nevertheless the German political establishment is increasingly worried that the far right's views are gaining traction.

"Our culture of remembrance is facing fundamental challenges," Culture Minister Claudia Roth said Monday.

"Disinformation, conspiracy theories and hate speech can now spread almost without limit in important social media," she said.

"This is all the more worrying given that there is currently a rapidly advancing relativization and deliberately pursued historical amnesia in the use of terms and gestures that are historically associated with" the Nazi era, she said.

Jewish leaders express mounting concern

The Central Council of Jews in Germany is worried that there are fewer witnesses left with a connection to the Nazi era, and called for initiatives to increase visits to sites of "Nazi crimes".

Last week the group's president Josef Schuster criticized the "propaganda raging" against remembrance culture.

"The parliamentary arm of this propaganda, the AfD, already has a seat in regional parliaments and the Bundestag," he lamented.

Speaking in Auschwitz on Monday, German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier told AFP: "I don't think Musk is waiting for my advice. But my conviction remains, there is no end point to our responsibility.

"What happened here, in this place and in many other camps during the Nazi tyranny, is part of our history, and therefore also part of our identity that we must grapple with.

"To those who think you can draw a line under it, I recommend that they come here and talk to the survivors."