German Chancellor Olaf Scholz said on Sunday that Germany has a responsibility to keep the memory of the Holocaust alive.
“I am against turning the page, saying ‘that was long ago,’” Scholz told a gathering of the Jewish community in Frankfurt to mark the 80th anniversary of the liberation of the Auschwitz death camp in Nazi-occupied Poland.
Scholz also highlighted the “worrying and alarming normalization” of antisemitism amid Israel’s 15-month war against Hamas in Gaza.
“The internet and social networks in particular often become a hotbed for extremist positions, incitement and hatred,” the German leader warned.
He noted that such incitement puts citizens’ lives in danger, adding that the authorities have a responsibility to protect them.