Following the right-wing Slovenian Democratic Party’s defeat on Sunday, a senior member of the party compared the situation in Slovenia to 1933 Germany, prompting the Germany Embassy to respond.
MP Branko Grims expressed doubt that people were fully aware of the choices they were making as he commented on the results of the referendum, saying that “the situation in Slovenia is getting increasingly similar to that in Germany in 1933” after the media managed to turn the campaign into ideology and personal prejudices.
“As a German Embassy we have some knowledge of German history and allow ourselves a short comment,” the German Embassy said in a statement on Monday entitled 2022 Slovenia Is Not 1933 Germany. The embassy also made a list of what happened in 1933: Adolf Hitler assumed power, the Dachau concentration camp was built, the separation of powers was dismantled, and fundamental rights were abolished.
Slovenia, meanwhile, is a country “firmly rooted in the EU” where “everyone can freely express their opinions, choose from a broad spectrum of parties at elections, freely choose their religion, vote at referendums without pressure or fear.” As such, it has “nothing in common with the Germany of 1933.”
“Such comparisons are not only unfounded but also dangerous, they downplay the events that followed the national-socialist rise to power,” it said.
(Sebastijan R. Maček | sta.si)
Source: euractiv.com
