AFP - A leading member of German anti-immigration party AfD sparked an outcry Wednesday over his criticism of the Holocaust memorial in Berlin and calls to stop focusing on the country's Nazi past.
"Up to now, our state of mind is still one of a totally defeated people... We Germans, our people, are the only people in the world who have planted a
monument of shame in the heart of the capital," Bjoern Hoecke told party faithful including youth members, according to a video of the speech
circulated online.
"We need nothing less than a 180-degree turn in the politics of remembrance," he said in the remarks on Tuesday to chants of "Germany,
Germany".
Instead of introducing younger generations to home-grown "internationally-acclaimed philosophers, musicians and ingenious inventors... German history has been made lousy and ridiculous," he complained, winning a standing ovation from the crowd.
"There is no moral responsibility to make yourself disappear," he said, adding that Germany should instead "build up a positive relationship with our history".