NDP supporters
Photo: Reuters
German nationalist calls for end to Nazi guilt
Bjoern Hoecke, who leads the right-wing Alternative for Germany party, calls for taking a 'positive' attitude toward German history, describes Berlin Holocaust memorial as an unacceptable 'monument of shame.'
A prominent member of the nationalist Alternative for Germany party wants to end the country's decades-long tradition of acknowledging and atoning for its Nazi past.
Bjoern Hoecke leads the party in the eastern state of Thuringia. He says Germany needs to perform a "180-degree turn" when it comes to remembering its past.
German nationalists (Photo: Reuters)
Hoecke said Tuesday that the Berlin memorial to the millions of Jews killed in the Holocaust is a "monument of shame." He told party supporters in the eastern city of Dresden that no other country would erect such a memorial in its capital and called instead for Germany to take a "positive" attitude toward its history.
Bjoern Hoecke
Nazi Germany was responsible for the murder of more than 6 million Jews and other minorities before and during World War II.
His calls come on the heels of a ruling by Germany's supreme court on Tuesday rejecting a bid by lawmakers to outlaw a fringe far-right party accused of pursuing a racist and anti-Semitic agenda.
