Plans by the youth wing of the extreme right-wing National Democratic Party (NPD) to hold its annual conference and a parade in the town of Dachau on May 7 have met with strong protests. Dachau’s Mayor has described the planned event as “in bad taste” and said the local council would “do everything legally possible” to prevent it from being held.
The Association of Victims of Nazism-League of Anti-Fascists said this “terrible provocation” must be prevented. “The shadows of our terrible past still haunt the town of Dachau today. A reappearance of Nazi elements in Dachau would be an irreparable scandal for all democrats and antifascists at home and abroad.”
The Munich youth section of the ruling Social Democratic Party called on the Bavarian State Ministry of Culture to ban the event. Following the protests, the owners of a local castle where the meeting was scheduled withdrew their permission for its use. The Bavarian NPD committee said it saw “no reason to call off the event.”
The NPD said it would not “bow to the dictates of the Communist association of Nazi victims.” The statement concluded by saying that “neither the NPD nor its youth wing were responsible for the Dachau concentration camp.” For the NPD, Dachau was “a Bavarian town like any other.”
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The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
