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As a place steeped in the German collective memory, Auschwitz represents more than any other place the responsibility of the post-war generations before history. The visit to it this Friday for the first time Angela Merkel is therefore most symbolic.
With our correspondent in Berlin, Pascal Thibaut
Helmut Schmidt was the first to visit Auschwitz in 1977. His successor, Chancellor Helmut Kohl, made two visits. The last one dates back to 1995.
As a child, Angela Merkel often went to the Ravensbrück camp in the north of Berlin. The Chancellor developed a close relationship with Israel after the fall of the wall and visited the Yad Vashem Memorial five times. She has visited the Dachau and Buchenwald camps in the past and maintains close relations with the Jewish community.
But the Chancellor had never been to Auschwitz. She goes there on Friday, December 6th at the invitation of the foundation that manages and preserves the former extermination camp and celebrates its tenth anniversary.
A payment of 60 million euros to the Auschwitz-Birkenau Foundation
" Angela Merkel is very vigilant on these issues and wants to fight against anti-Semitism and other forms of discrimination," says director Wojciech Soczewica. It does a great job especially with the current rise of anti-Semitism in Europe. I am very happy that she has accepted our invitation . "
Germany will increase its support to the foundation with a payment of 60 million euros. Low interest rates no longer allow the institution to have enough fresh money.
Angela Merkel will observe a minute of silence in front of the death wall where thousands of detainees were shot. She will then go to the Birkenau site where she will speak.