German Leader Slams Holocaust Memorial: ‘Disgrace’ In Berlin, AfD’s Bjoern Hoecke Says

The head of the Alternative for Germany (AfD) party, Bjoern Hoecke, recently bashed the placement of the Holocaust Memorial in Berlin, telling his supporters that Germans are the “only people in the world who planted a memorial of disgrace in the heart of their capital,” BBC News reported Wednesday. His remarks came as Germany, like much of Western Europe, has dealt with a major push from right-wing leaders and parties over the last year or more.

Hoecke is known for making such remarks, but he’s drawing severe criticism for targeting the memorial, also called the Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe. Hoecke also said that Germans are a “brutally defeated people” and that the country required an “180-degree turn” in regard to how it views its history. He was speaking Tuesday night in Dresden in front of both party supporters and roughly 200 protesters.

The memorial opened in 2005 and contains 2,711 stone slabs to honor the 6 million Jews killed in the Holocaust during World War II, a direct result of the Nazi Party’s rise under Adolf Hitler.

The top member of the center-left Social Democrats party Ralf Stegner tweeted that Hoecke’s speech was “inflammatory” and that he “wants to rewrite history,” according to BBC News, and then called for “no influence for the Neo-nazi mob!”

Hoecke and the AfD, as well as the rest of Germany’s political parties, are beginning the run-up to Germany's national elections scheduled for late 2017 and the AfD is expected to earn several seats. It enjoys support from about 11 percent of German voters.

The rise of far-right leaders has gained steam of late in part because of Germany’s so-called “open-door” refugee policy, which may have allowed almost 300,000 Syrians to enter the country last year alone, according to The Guardian.

Some have also worried that Hitler’s political views are gaining popularity again in Germany. Hitler’s autobiography “Mein Kampf” was a bestseller in Germany last year.