Three members of the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party visited Yad Vashem on Tuesday.

The anti-immigration AfD party has repeatedly downplayed the horrors of the Holocaust and has engaged in numerous incidents of antisemitic rhetoric, including calling the Holocaust memorial in Berlin a “monument of shame.”

The party is boycotted by the Israeli government and the Israeli embassy in Berlin doesn’t maintain ties with its members but Yad Vashem is apparently open to all.

“Today, three AfD Bundestag members toured Yad Vashem,” wrote Yad Vashem chairman Dani Dayan. “Yad Vashem is open to all, especially to those in need of intensive Holocaust education. The AfD and its members have still a long way to go in understanding the Holocaust and addressing the German responsibility of this past.”

The visit was organized by the German Embassy in Israel. Yad Vashem refused the request of the embassy to hold a ceremony with the AfD members in the Yizkor tent.

A Twitter debate developed on the issue in response to Dayan’s tweet and he replied to one respondent: “The AfD party is a party with anti-Semitic tendencies and Holocaust denial. Vad Yashem has no relationship with it and its members…we unhesitantly refused the German embassy’s request to hold a ceremony in the Yizkor tent but entry to Yad Vashem is open to all. That’s the entire story.”

Dayan also responded in English to a social media user who questioned his decision, as seen below:

I can add many more quotes from AfD members. That’s the reason Yad Vashem does not have any contact with the party and it’s members. No YV execs met them. We rejected the German embassy request to lay a wreath. But we are open to all, including antisemites. That’s all. https://t.co/IXkwj1BSJf

— Dani Dayan (@AmbDaniDayan) May 2, 2023

In 2017, the AfD party was the first far-right party to win seats in the Bundestag since the end of World War II.

(YWN Israel Desk – Jerusalem)