Numerous wreath-laying ceremonies and commemorative events were planned across Germany to mark Holocaust Remembrance Day on Saturday.

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz called for a determined fight against antisemitism and racism.

"'Never again' is every day," he said in a weekly video published on Saturday. "January 27 calls out to us: Stay visible! Stay audible! Against antisemitism, against racism, against hatred — and for our democracy."

Flags at federal government buildings are to be flown at half-mast as a sign of mourning, as ordered by Federal Interior Minister Nancy Faeser, her ministry announced on X, formerly Twitter.

Meanwhile across Germany, hundreds of thousands took to the streets on Saturday to protest against far-right extremismand the Alternative for Germany (AfD) party.

Politicians urge vigilance

Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock called for lessons to be learned from the atrocities committed by the National Socialists.

"They brought a transport. They all knew that they were inevitably going to die, but they remained completely calm. As they walked naked into the gas chamber, one of the women said: Perhaps a miracle will happen to us?" Baerbock cited an anonymous fragment found at the Auschwitz concentration camp in a post on X.

"Nazi Germany stifled all miracles and made the world look into the abyss of humanity. It is up to those of us alive to shape our present out of our responsibility for our past," Baerbock said. "Never again is now."

Faeser is set to hold a speech at the Ravensbrück Memorial, on the grounds of the former Ravensbrück women's concentration camp.

In the afternoon, people planned to gather in the northern German city of Hamburg to commemorate the victims of National Socialism. Later in the evening, a memorial service will be held at the Kaiser Wilhelm Memorial Church in Berlin by Bishop Christian Stäblein.

About 20 survivors of Nazi death camps will mark the 79th anniversary of the liberation of the Auschwitz-Birkenau camp in a low-key ceremony at a memorial and museum near the town of Oswiecim in southern Poland. 

They will be joined by Polish Senate President Malgorzata Kidawa-Blonska, Culture Minister Bartlomiej Sienkiewicz and Israeli Ambassador Yacov Livne.

Never again

The victims of the Holocaust are remembered internationally on January 27, the day the survivors of the Nazi concentration and extermination camp Auschwitz-Birkenau were liberated by Soviet troops in 1945.

The date has been commemorated as Holocaust Remembrance Day in Germany since 1996. The United Nations declared it a day of remembrance in 2005.

There have been increasing warnings of rising antisemitism and racism across Germany in recent years but especially since the Hamas attacks on Israel on October 7.

Hundreds of thousands of people have also taken to the streets to protest against the rising popularity of the far-right Alternative for Germany party (AfD). Protests were planned for Saturday, too.

The protests, now in their third week, were triggered by revelations from the Correctiv group of investigative journalists about a meeting in Potsdam outside Berlin of radical right-wingers on November 25. The meeting saw far-right figures call for the deportation of millions from Germany.

At the same time, demonstrations against right-wing extremism will again take place in many German cities over the weekend.

dh/ab (AP, AFP, dpa)