As the number of Holocaust witnesses decreases, studies show that Holocaust awareness among German youth is decreasing. Almost 40 percent of Germans aged 18 to 29 do not know that six million Jews were killed by the Nazis, while more than one in 10 said they had never heard of the Holocaust. according to the survey published last year by the Jewish Claims Conference.
Politicians in Germany’s far-right party (AfD) – the country’s most popular political party in recent polls – have at times criticized Germany’s culture of commemoration, with far-right figures decrying what they call the country’s “cult of guilt”. The AfD is particularly strong in the former East Germany, including in the state of Saxony, where a branch of the Yad Vashem center is planned in the city of Leipzig.
In the eastern state of Saxony-Anhalt, where the AfD aims to gain real political power for the first time since its founding in a regional vote scheduled for September. party platform it wants to commemorate the German soldiers who died in the First and Second World Wars as “the first sign of patriotic change.”
Michael Kretschmer, prime minister of the conservative state of Saxony, welcomed plans for a Yad Vashem branch in his state.
“Leipzig can also serve as a bridge to Eastern Europe – including in cooperation with Poland and the Czech Republic on educational and commemorative initiatives,” Kretschmer said. “Education and new educational areas are important and necessary to decisively and openly confront hatred, hatred, misinformation, and any form of denial of the Holocaust.”
Crimes against Jews in Germany reached a record in 2024, with 6,236 crimes recorded, according to the figures provided and the ministry of interior.
