Merkel calls on each citizen to fight anti-Semitism

Berlin: German Chancellor Angela Merkel has called on every single citizen to help fight anti-Semitism ahead of International Holocaust Remembrance Day.

Merkel said Saturday in her weekly podcast: “Today we are seeing a very different kind of anti-Semitism: there’s the hatred of Jews by our local people, but also by Muslim migrants.” 

In recent years, Germany has seen a rising number of often violent attacks against Jews which led the government to appoint a commissioner against anti-Semitism. 

It’s also funding the creation of a national registration office for anti-Semitic hate crimes.

On Sunday, Germany and many other countries are marking International Holocaust Remembrance Day 75 years after the Soviet army liberated the Auschwitz death camp in occupied Poland.

Some six million European Jews were murdered in the Holocaust.