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