Samoan leader apologizes for ‘Heil Hitler’ salute at 2007 family reunion

Ben Strang/AFP/Getty Images

Samoa’s prime minister has apologized after an old video of him surfaced performing the Nazi salute while leading a chorus of “Heil Hitler” at a family reunion in 2007.

Prime Minister Laaulialemalietoa Leuatea Schmidt said his words were “not intended for the public” and apologized in a statement published by the government Monday.

“Whatever the context or intention at that gathering twenty years ago, I recognise that those words and gesture were inappropriate and capable of causing offence and hurt and I apologise for using them,” said Laaulialemalietoa, who became PM of the Pacific Island nation last year.

The antisemitic remarks were made during a “private family gathering” in Savai’i, the country’s largest island, in 2007, Laaulialemalietoa said, when he was serving as deputy speaker of Parliament.

In the seven-second video clip, Laaulialemalietoa is seen leading about a dozen people in the Nazi-affiliated salute, saying “Raise your right hand, Heil Hitler,” while the group mimics his words and gesture, according to the Samoa Observer newspaper, which first reported on the video Sunday.

Laaulialemalietoa banned the Samoa Observer from all government press conferences last year for what he’s called “unfair” reporting.

Samoa is a tiny nation of about 221,000 people in the South Pacific, near Fiji. It sits to the west of American Samoa, the US territory in the eastern part of the Samoan island chain.

Samoa was colonized by Germany in the early 20th century, and many Samoans have German heritage and surnames.

New Zealand took what was then known as Western Samoa from the Germans in 1914 and retained control of Samoa until the country’s independence in 1962.

In his statement Monday, Laaulialemalietoa said his behavior in the clip does not reflect his personal beliefs or the beliefs of the government or people of Samoa.

“I reject Nazism, antisemitism, racism and all forms of political extremism,” he said, adding that he now considers “this matter addressed.”

Ben Strang/AFP/Getty Images

萨摩亚总理就一段旧视频公开道歉，视频显示他在 2007 年的一次家庭聚会上，带领大家高唱“希特勒万岁”时行纳粹礼。

总理劳利亚莱马列托亚·莱乌阿特亚·施密特表示，他的言论“并非针对公众”，并在周一政府发表的声明中道歉。

“无论二十年前那次聚会的背景或意图如何，我都承认那些言语和姿态是不恰当的，可能会冒犯和伤害他人，我为使用它们而道歉，”去年成为这个太平洋岛国总理的拉乌利亚莱马列托亚说道。

拉乌利亚莱马列托阿表示，这些反犹太主义言论是在2007年萨瓦伊岛（该国​​最大的岛屿）的一次“私人家庭聚会”上发表的，当时他担任议会副议长。

据《萨摩亚观察报》报道，在一段七秒钟的视频片段中，可以看到拉乌利亚莱马列托阿带领大约十几个人行纳粹礼，并说“举起你的右手，希特勒万岁”，而其他人则模仿他的言语和手势。《萨摩亚观察报》于周日率先报道了这段视频。

去年，拉乌利亚莱马列托亚以“不公平”报道为由，禁止《萨摩亚观察报》参加所有政府新闻发布会。

萨摩亚是南太平洋上的一个小国，人口约22.1万，靠近斐济。它位于美属萨摩亚的西侧，美属萨摩亚是美国在萨摩亚群岛东部的领土。

萨摩亚在 20 世纪初被德国殖民，许多萨摩亚人拥有德国血统和姓氏。

1914 年，新西兰从德国手中夺取了当时被称为西萨摩亚的地区，并一直控制着萨摩亚，直到该国于 1962 年独立。

拉乌利亚莱马列托亚周一发表声明称，他在视频中的行为并不反映他个人的信仰，也不反映萨摩亚政府或人民的信仰。

“我反对纳粹主义、反犹太主义、种族主义和一切形式的政治极端主义，”他说道，并补充说他现在认为“这个问题已经得到解决”。