Auschwitz survivor alarmed by AfD advance in Germany

Munich, Germany. Auschwitz survivor Eva Umlauf said she was horrified by the rise of the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) after the party’s victory in Saxony-Anhalt.

The result has brought a far-right party within reach of power in a German state for the first time since the end of World War Two.

Survivor’s concerns

Umlauf was two years old when she and her mother were freed from the Nazi death camp Auschwitz in January 1945.

“I expected this, and yet I’m appalled,” she told Reuters. “I am appalled, I am saddened; I don’t know what drives people to vote for this party.”

The Slovakian-born paediatrician and psychotherapist, who lives in Munich, visits schools to educate children about the Holocaust and is president of the International Auschwitz Committee.

Fears among minority groups

Umlauf’s comments reflect concerns expressed by representatives of minority groups as opinion polls have shown growing support for the far right in Saxony-Anhalt, Berlin and the eastern state of Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, where elections are scheduled for September 20.

“We’re afraid. We know what happens – what happens to minorities, what happens to foreigners,” she said.

AfD policies and criticism

Founded as a eurosceptic party during the euro zone crisis in 2013, the AfD rejects comparisons with the Nazi Party, which was responsible for the Holocaust that killed about 6 million Jews, as well as Roma and Sinti people, homosexuals and others.

The party wants to restrict immigration, particularly from countries it considers “culturally alien” to Germany, leave the euro and restore ties with Russia to reduce energy prices. It says its policies reflect common-sense views shared by millions of Germans and denies being antisemitic.

The AfD has accused mainstream parties of using such allegations to silence opposition. Its opponents accuse it of downplaying Germany’s Nazi past, citing a 2018 remark by one of its leaders describing the Nazi era as “just bird shit in 1,000 years of successful German history.”