For survivors from Auschwitz and of the Holocaust, the solid reliability and the vitality of democracy in Germany was, and is, decisively linked with the decades of undaunted efforts by people in Germany to raise public awareness and acknowledgement of the crimes committed under the Nazi state and to seek encounters and dialogue with the survivors themselves.

During this process the large majority of Germans have persisted along an often harrowing path of coming to terms with history. At the same time they have constantly tried to communicate this ongoing learning process to the coming generations as a commitment and a chance by establishing memorial centres and monuments.

Consequently, in the eyes of the survivors there has been a consensus supported by the majority of Germans that history should never be forgotten if German society is to thrive as a democracy. This constant remembrance also acts as a bulwark against all efforts to glorify National Socialism and its potential revival.

It appears highly likely that this consensus, which has also decisively shaped German external policies and made them trustworthy and reliable, may be broken by the results of the parliamentary election this coming Sunday. From Germany of all places, there is the threat of a development that will give a huge boost to right-wing populism and the extreme right in Europe and in the world. Commenting on the situation Christoph Heubner, Executive Vice President of the International Auschwitz Committee said:

"Auschwitz survivors are carefully watching the election forecasts in Germany which strongly suggest parliamentary seats for the AfD with an assortment of anti-Semites, despisers of democracy and national socialist rabble rousers.
Potential AfD MPs have repeatedly claimed they intend to do away with memories of the Holocaust and eradicate them completely from public consciousness. The attitude of these AfD parliamentary candidates towards the survivors is cutting, cold and hostile. On election they will bring with them an inhuman iciness into the Bundestag which Holocaust survivors believed had been overcome, particularly in Germany. Consequently they are setting their hopes especially on the large majority of Germans who want to continue living in a world that honours remembrance, democracy and tolerance."