In a scene reminiscent of Nazi bonfires of “degenerate books” in the ‘30s, far-right extremists in an east German state built a pyre and torched a copy of Anne Frank’s diary and an American flag. A regional spokesman commented “that there are too few democrats in the East with the courage to stand up to it and prevent [such deeds].”

Yet one University of Mainz professor, Jurgen Falter, did speak up. He said “right-wing extremism is at the same time anti-Americanism and anti-Semitism.”