German Chancellor Rebukes Vance for Supporting Party That Downplays Nazis

Chancellor Olaf Scholz of Germany on Saturday accused Vice President JD Vance of unacceptably interfering in his country’s imminent elections on behalf of a party that has played down the atrocities committed by the Nazis 80 years ago.A day after Mr.Vance stunned the Munich Security Conference by telling German leaders to drop their so-called firewall and allow the hard-right Alternative for Germany, or AfD, to enter their federal government, Mr.

Scholz accused Mr.Vance of effectively violating a commitment to never again allow Germany to be led by fascists who could repeat the horrors of the Holocaust.“A commitment to ‘never again’ is not reconcilable with support for the AfD,” Mr.

Scholz said at the conference on Saturday morning, in an address opening the gathering’s second day.Mr.Scholz said the AfD had trivialized Nazi atrocities like the concentration camp at Dachau, which Mr.

Vance visited on Friday.He said Germany “would not accept” directives from outsiders about how to run its democracy — and certainly not to work with such a party.“That is not done, certainly not among friends and allies,” Mr.

Scholz said.“Where our democracy goes from here is for us to decide.”...