‘I do not forgive the Germans for the Holocaust,’ MK tells Bundestag president

“I do not forget or forgive, nor will I forgive the actions of this devil, ever,” Akunis said.

By David Hellerman, World Israel News

At a Holocaust Remembrance Day ceremony in  the Knesset attended by the Speaker of Germany’s Parliament on Thursday, Likud MK Ofir Akunis said he does not forgive Germany for the murder of six million Jews.

“Others may be able to forgive the Germans. I do not forget or forgive, nor will I forgive the actions of this devil, ever,” the former cabinet minister said in the presence of Bundestag president Barbel Bas.

Bas arrived in Israel on Wednesday to participate in Israel’s Yom HaShoah commemorations.

She also lit a candle at the Knesset event in memory of Irma Nathan, who was deported from the German city of Duisburg to the Izbica concentration camp in southeast Poland on this date in 1942. Bas is also from Duisburg.

“I humbly lower my head in shame before the victims of the Holocaust,” Bas said at the Knesset. “We cannot forget and we will not forget. Our historic guilt brings with it obligations. We must fight with determination against antisemitism in all its forms and keep alive the memory and pass it to the younger generations.”

Bas had already visited Yad Vashem with her Israeli counterpart, Knesset Speaker Mickey Levy.

Levy described Bas’s visit as “a significant and important expression of the special connection that exists between the countries, for the historical responsibility that Germany took for the war crimes, and Germany’s commitment to Israel’s security.”

The Knesset’s annual tribute includes MKs reading out the names of Jews killed by the Nazis.