“Germany needs a new wake-up call. No democrat should stand watching in idle complacency as xenophobia and racial tendencies eat their way further into the fabric of society,” said Christoph Heubner, Vice President of the International Auschwitz Committee, following the violent disturbances by asylum opponents in Freital, Saxony, on Monday 6 July.

During a public meeting at the town hall people in the audience brawled hatred against refugees, shouted down the meeting organisers and wrenched the microphone from the hands of a woman representing the Initiative for Openness and Tolerance.
 
For Christoph Heubner the limit has been reached: “Right-wing groups have long since been harassing citizens at the centre of society, incensing them to hatred and xenophobia. This is why people throughout society, in politics, the trade unions, the churches, artists and the media need to send out a joint message reminding people of our democracy’s openness and tolerance once again.”
 
Auschwitz survivors are following developments, such as the events in Freital, with great concern. “People who were mercilessly persecuted during their lives, whose relatives were murdered in the death camps and who cannot forget their horrific experiences to this day, most urgently warn against any new emergence of right-wing violence in Germany and Europe,” Mr Heubner said.