German government accuses far-right AfD of playing down Nazi era
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The German government condemned on Monday an apparent attempt by the co-leader of the anti-immigrant AfD party to play down the significance of the Nazis in Germany's history, and it stressed the unique nature of the Holocaust.
On Sunday politicians rebuked Alexander Gauland, one of the leaders of the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD), after he told a party gathering: "Hitler and the National Socialists are just bird shit in 1,000 years of successful German history."
Gauland denied on Monday that he had intended to trivialize the Nazis and their crimes, but Steffen Seibert, spokesman for Chancellor Angela Merkel, said it was shameful that a member of the German national parliament had made such comments.
"The Nazi regime and the crime of the Holocaust conceived by the Nazi regime are unique, a real crime against humanity, and immeasurable suffering was the result in many countries, including here in Germany," Seibert said.
