A survivor of the Nazis’ Auschwitz death camp praises Chancellor Angela Merkel’s decision to open her country’s doors to asylum seekers in 2015, telling lawmakers at a special parliamentary session commemorating the victims of the Holocaust it was a sign of Germany’s “exemplary” conduct following the war.
Holocaust survivor Anita Lasker-Wallfisch delivers her speech during a remembrance session of the German parliament to commemorate the victims of the Holocaust, in Berlin, Germany, January 31, 2018. (AP Photo/Markus Schreiber)
Anita Lasker-Wallfisch, a 92-year-old German-born Jew who survived Auschwitz with her sister but lost her parents in the Holocaust, says that after the war they emerged as refugees in a world of closed borders.
“Now they are opened, thanks to an incredibly generous and courageous gesture made here,” she says to wide applause, with Merkel sitting not far away.
But she also urges Germany and other nations to remain vigilant in fighting anti-Semitism, saying that people needed to see one another as individuals and overcome hatred.
“Hate is toxic, and ultimately those who hate poison themselves,” she says.
— AP
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