Merkel: Anti-Semitism a Threat to Democracy in Europe

German chancellor speaks out three days before she is set to visit Dachau concentration camp

Times of Israel
August 18, 2013

Germany-Merkel-Egypt_Horo-635x357German Chancellor Angela Merkel said anti-Semitism and racism remain a threat to democracy in Europe almost 70 years after the end of World War II.

Merkel cited the ongoing trial of five alleged neo-Nazis over the killing of 10 people between 2000 and 2007, and the fact that Jewish schools and synagogues still require police protection, as evidence of the problem in Germany.

She said Germany and the rest of Europe need to be vigilant against far-right extremists who seek to spread a distorted account of history.

Merkel’s comments came Saturday in a weekly online address three days before a planned visit to the remains of the Nazi concentration camp at Dachau in southern Germany.

Almost six million European Jews were murdered in the Holocaust orchestrated by Germany’s Nazi party.

Merkel’s scheduled visit to Dachau Tuesday will make her Berlin’s first leader to travel to the former Nazi concentration camp.

Merkel will lay a wreath at the site’s memorial, make a short speech, and will tour the camp.

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