In front of the survivors of Auschwitz in a building of the nazi death camp where prisoners have been stripped naked, disinfected, and forced to wear uniforms, the German chancellor Angela Merkel has spoken of the “deep shame” that she felt as a German.
Ms. Merkel travelled to Auschwitz on Friday, his first visit to the infamous nazi concentration camp by 14-year-old leader. The trip took place in a context of growing anti-semitism in Germany and has been designed as a strong gesture in the fight against it.
“It is not at all easy to stand here in front of you and talk to you. I am filled with deep shame in the face of the crimes of the barbarians, who have been committed here by the Germans. Crimes unknown to us “, she said.
Ms Merkel stressed that Auschwitz was a German extermination camp, led by the Germans, adding : “It is important that we identify clearly the authors, we, germans, we owe it to the victims and we owe it to ourselves. “
“We must never forget — we can’t draw a line, or allow for a trivialization of the Holocaust,” she said, urging the people to resist hate speech and anti-semitism.
“We must not close our eyes and ears. When people are verbally abused, humiliated or isolated … we must stand up “, she said.
In visiting the memorial, the chancellor held a moment of silence at the black Wall in the main camp at Auschwitz, where thousands of prisoners were slaughtered.
She also visited the extermination camp of Birkenau, about a mile from the main camp at Auschwitz, where she laid a wreath of flowers. The Polish Prime minister Mateusz Morawiecki and the president Andrzej Duda accompanied her during this visit.
In the framework of her visit, Ms. Merkel also announced that Germany would provide € 60 million extra ($67 million) of funding for the conservation of the memorial, saying that it would be for ever to the German nation to ensure that the victims are commemorated.
“Remember the crimes … is a responsibility that never ends. It belongs inseparably to our country. Be aware of this responsibility is part of our national identity, ” she said.
Bogdan Stanislaw, a survivor of Auschwitz, has shared his memories of having arrived at the death camp when he was a child of 12 years with Merkel and other guests present at the event.
To read: A survey CNN reveals the depth of anti-semitism in Europe
Angela Merkel is only the third German chancellor to visit the death camp, which operated in occupied Poland by the nazis. Helmut Schmidt was the first to go there in 1977, followed by Helmut Kohl in 1989 and 1995.
The memorial was also visited in the past by several presidents of the germans, who act as heads of State ceremonial.
Stefanie Schler-Springorum who directs the Center for research on antisemitism at the technical University of Berlin, stated that a visit by a German leader to visit Auschwitz is still a ” very important event “.
“It is a statement,” she said. “Angela Merkel is very aware of what it does, what are his last years in power, and it is important for her to go there.”
Marie-Sophie Adeoso, the educational Center Anne Frank from Frankfurt, added that the visit of Angela Merkel was very necessary. “I find it amazing that in nearly 25 years, no German chancellor has visited Auschwitz “, she said.
“This is something that needs to be done … anti-semitism is real in Germany these days and it is [important to] continue to remind us of the historical legacy that we, Germans, do.
While this will be his first visit to Auschwitz, chancellor angela Merkel has visited several memorial sites of the Holocaust in the past, including the Centre for global commemoration of the Holocaust, Yad Vashem in Jerusalem.
“It is always a question of where you go when you want to do this kind of symbolic record and Angela Merkel went several times (to) Yad Vashem to do it, it is probably one of the reasons, I think, why it has not yet been to Auschwitz , said Magnus Brechtken, deputy director of the Leibniz Institute for contemporary history.
Ms. Merkel has visited several times in Israel and, in 2014, she received the highest civilian award of the country for his ” fight against anti-semitism and racism in particular through education “.
In 2009, she accompanied president Barack Obama and the Nobel peace prize winner and Holocaust survivor Elie Wiesel on the site of the nazi concentration camp of Buchenwald, near Weimar, in central Germany.
In 2013, it has been criticised after a visit to the concentration camp of Dachau during an election campaign.
Earlier this year, the German Jews have been warned by a top government official not to wear a yarmulke traditional in public places because of concerns of security as a result of the increase in attacks and anti-semitic.
In October, a man armed in Halle, killed two people when he tried to storm a synagogue on Yom Kippur, the most holy day in the jewish calendar.
“After the attempted massacre of the Jews in Halle, everything must be done which underlines the determination of the German authorities to combat anti-semitism, practically and symbolically wherever they can,” Wolf Kaiser, a historian and member of the German delegation to the international Alliance for the memory of the Holocaust, told CNN in an e-mail.
A survey conducted by the european fundamental rights Agency earlier this year showed that 89 % of the Jews surveyed in Germany believe that anti-semitism is growing.
“We are witnessing and living an attack on our fundamental values of liberal democracy and a historical revisionism is very dangerous and serves as a hostility that is directed against specific groups “, Merkel said Friday.
“We focus our attention in particular on anti-semitism. This threat to the Jews in Germany, in Europe and beyond “, she added.
Pawel Sawicki, a spokesman for the Auschwitz Memorial, said the museum does not invite heads of State to visit the site. This also applies to major events, such as the 75th anniversary of the liberation of the camp in January 2020.
“The museum … did not invite any politician to the individual,” said Mr Sawicki, adding that the memorial was to inform the member States of the EU and other countries who make a donation to the memorial that the anniversary event would take place.
“If they wish to participate, we expect the information on their own delegations to State. “Sawicki added that he does not recall an official visit, refused by the museum.
Mr Sawicki said that the invitation to Mrs Merkel came from the Foundation Auschwitz-Birkenau, which manages the endowment fund for the conservation of the memorial and celebrates its 10th anniversary. Germany is the biggest donor of the foundation.
Germany has experienced a series of electoral gains of the extreme right-wing party AfD, whose leaders have in the past questioned the emphasis placed by Germany on the public memory of the Holocaust.
“I would say that most people understand that a society that has been self-critical in the way in which it deals with its past is also more able to cope with problems and to be more vigilant if there are threats and challenges … these challenges, populist movements, anti-semitic, passing by the extremists “, he said.
“This is why [Merkel] is going, she represents the majority. “
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