German far-right politician condemned for 'dancing' on Holocaust memorial

Israel’s ambassador in Berlin has slammed a member of the far-right Alternative for Germany party for appearing to dance on the country’s Holocaust memorial.

Ambassador Ron Prosor said on Tuesday on Twitter that far-right politician Holger Winterstein had brought “shame upon himself and his party.”

A picture posted on social media showed Winterstein posing with outstretched arms on one of the stone slabs that form the memorial in Berlin for the more than six million Jews murdered by the Nazis in the Holocaust.

German media reported that the picture was taken after a protest organised on Saturday by Alternative for Germany.

Ambassador Prosor wrote: "Mr Winterstein, everyone is watching you dance while you bring shame on yourself and your party."Enjoy your shameful minute of fame because your name will soon be forgotten.

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"The sanctified souls commemorated at the memorial will never be forgotten."

The party, known by its German acronym AfD, said it would take action against Mr Winterstein over his “extremely disrespectful behaviour.”

Mr Winterstein is a county representative in Thuringia.

The party's leader in the state, Bjoern Hoecke, in 2018 called the Holocaust memorial a “monument of shame” and called for Germany to perform a “180-degree turn” when it comes to the way it remembers its past. A party tribunal at the time rejected a bid to have him expelled.