Survivors of the Holocaust are reacting with mounting irritation and disbelief at the scandalous decision of the public prosecutor’s office to close proceedings against the AfD politician Höcke following his inflammatory speech in Dresden, consequently legitimising the speaker’s pronouncements.

Commenting in Berlin, Christoph Heubner, vice president of the International Auschwitz Committee, said:

"This misguided decision will only encourage right-wing extremists further in their efforts to scorn democracy and its memorials, and to insult and discredit survivors as contemporary witnesses of the Holocaust. Once again, Saxony is becoming the focus of right-wing agitators who are exploiting the availability of law-free spaces and overly indulgent public prosecutors. It would be fatal if this decision by the public prosecutor’s office were to open up even greater leeway for right-wing rabble rousers and, as in Dresden, state authorities were to duck out even more in face of them. The survivors of the Holocaust and the International Auschwitz Committee are hoping for a strong defensive democracy, also in Saxony."