Germany and the United States have decided to step up their cooperation against Holocaust deniers. These are people who argue that the Nazis did not commit genocide against Jews during World War II.
The denial of Nazi crimes, such as the systematic persecution of the Jews, must be combated, according to the two countries.
Berlin and Washington want to keep the memory of the Holocaust alive. The German and American foreign ministers, Heiko Maas and Antony Blinken, signed a joint statement about this at the Monument to the Murdered Jews of Europe in Berlin. They want to hold a first top-level Holocaust conference by the end of this year.
The two ministers say they are very concerned that the denial, revision, and falsification of the Holocaust are increasing and anti-Semitism is rising. They want to work internationally for better education on this subject. It is seen as a shared duty “to do everything in our power to ensure that future generations learn the truth about the Holocaust and to prevent such heinous crimes against humanity from ever happening again.”
Blinken comes from a Jewish family. His stepfather survived the concentration camps Treblinka, Majdanek, Dachau and Auschwitz. He calls the initiative a historical dialogue.
Maas, who has repeatedly cited Auschwitz as the reason for becoming politically active, spoke of a turning point in the culture of remembrance because soon there will be no more eyewitnesses.
