German nationalist calls for end to Nazi-related guilt January 19, 2017Bjoern Hoecke, head of AfD in Thuringia. (AP/Jens Meyer)(AP/Jens Meyer)German nationalist calls for end to Nazi-related guilt A German politician is calling on his country to take a “positive” attitude toward its history, including that of the Holocaust.A prominent member of the nationalist Alternative for Germany (AfD) 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 said Germany needs to perform a “180-degree turn” when it comes to remembering its dark past.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.Nazi Germany was responsible for the murder of more than six million Jews and additonal victims from other minority groups before and during World War II.In 2015, a poll conducted in Germany marking the 70th anniversary of the end of World War II found that 42 percent of Germans have “had enough” of feeling responsible for the Holocaust.By: AP and World Israel News Staff AfDGermanyHolocaustNazisWWII
