Elon Musk urged Germans to “move beyond” their “past guilt” in a speech at an Alternative für Deutschland (AfD) rally in Halle in eastern Germany on Saturday.
At the AfD election campaign event, Musk said “children should not be guilty of the sins of their parents, let alone their great grandparents”, apparently referring to Germany’s Nazi past.
“There is too much focus on past guilt, and we need to move beyond that,” he said.
Speaking via a video link to a hall of 4,500 people alongside AfD co-leader, Alice Weidel, Musk stressed the importance of preserving German culture.
President Donald Trump’s new efficiency tsar said, “it is okay to be proud to be German”.
He said “people take pride in Germany and being German”.
“It’s good to be proud of German culture, German values, and not to lose that in some sort of multiculturalism that dilutes everything,” Musk said.
The tech billionaire was met with loud whoops and cheers from the crowd.
His comments come a week after he caused uproar for making a repeated gesture during an event at Trump’s inauguration that bore a resemblance to a Nazi salute.
On Thursday, Musk took to his social media platform to taunt those who accused him of doing a Nazi salute.
“Don’t say Hess to Nazi accusations! Some people will Goebbels anything down! Stop Gőring your enemies,” Musk wrote on X.
“His pronouns would’ve been He/Himmler! Bet you did nazi that coming,” he added with a laughing emoji.
Musk’s speech in support of the AfD on Saturday marks his third public endorsement of the country’s far-right party and comes just four weeks before Germany heads to the polls for its federal election.
AfD has seen a surge in support, becoming the first far-right party to win a state election in Germany since the Nazi era.
All of Germany’s mainstream political parties have said they will refuse to work with the AfD.
Increasingly engaged in European politics, Musk’s comments in Germany come on the heels of a feud with the UK Labour Party.
The X owner tweeted his disagreements with Prime Minister Keir Starmer over law, economics and free speech.
Musk also demanded the release from jail of controversial far-right activist, Tommy Robinson.
