On Sunday (July 12, 2025), Chancellor Friedrich Merz remembered the six million Jews murdered during the Nazi dictatorship and in this context emphasized Germany’s “enduring historical responsibility”.
“We will keep alive the memory of the terrible crime of the Shoah that the Germans committed against the Jewish people,” he wrote in the guest book at the central Yad Vashem memorial in Jerusalem.
Tensions between Israel and Germany over the war in Gaza
Relations between Israel and Germany have been affected by the conflict in the Gaza Strip. Merz, who took power in May, repeatedly criticized Israel’s relentless military campaign.
According to the health ministry of the enclave controlled by the Palestinian terror group Hamas, which the UN considers credible, the war has so far cost more than 70,000 Palestinian lives.
In August, Merz also took steps to restrict the sale of German weapons for use in Gaza. But because the ceasefire and hostage repatriation agreement ended large-scale fighting, Germany lifted these restrictions.
“Germany must defend the existence and security of Israel”
“Here in Yad Vashem, Germany’s enduring historical responsibility is palpable: Germany must defend the existence and security of Israel. This is part of the unchanging nature of our relationship and will remain so forever,” said the head of government on Sunday.
Yad Vashem is the largest Holocaust memorial in the world. It was founded in 1953 and serves as a place of remembrance, research, documentation and education. Millions of documents relating to the Nazi genocide are archived there.
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