As the number of firsthand Holocaust witnesses dwindles, studies show that Holocaust awareness among young Germans is declining. Around 40 percent of Germans ages 18 to 29 do not know that six million Jews were murdered by the Nazis, while more than one in 10 said they had never heard of the Holocaust, according to a survey published last year by the Jewish Claims Conference.
Politicians in the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) — the country’s most popular political party in recent polls — have at times decried Germany’s culture of remembrance, with extreme-right figures railing against what they call the country’s “guilt cult.” The AfD is particularly strong in the former East Germany, including in the state of Saxony, where a branch of the Yad Vashem center is planned in the city of Leipzig.
In the eastern state of Saxony-Anhalt, where the AfD aims to gain real political power for the first time since its founding in a regional vote set for September, the party’s platform calls for commemorating German soldiers who died in World Wars I and II as “a first sign of the patriotic shift.”
Michael Kretschmer, the conservative state premier of Saxony, welcomed plans for the Yad Vashem branch in his state.
“Leipzig can also serve as a bridge to Eastern Europe — including in cooperation with Poland and the Czech Republic on educational and remembrance initiatives,” said Kretschmer. “Education and new educational venues are necessary and important for decisively and clearly countering antisemitism, prejudice, disinformation, and any form of Holocaust denial.”
Antisemitic crimes in Germany reached a record in 2024, with 6,236 recorded offenses, according to statistics released by the interior ministry.