Germany angered by foreign secretary’s defence of Duterte’s Hitler remark

Hitler
Theodore Locsin flanked by Adolf Hitler and President Duterte.

The German foreign ministry has summoned the acting Philippine ambassador to Germany after Foreign Affairs Secretary Teodoro Locsin defended President Duterte’s comments on Hitler.

In a tweet today (Friday, February 22), Arnd Henze of the ARD broadcasting network wrote: “UPDATE: Philippine’s acting Ambassador has been summoned by German’s Foreign Ministry. It has been made clear that the remarks by @teddyboylocsin were totally unacceptable.”

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Locsin attended the Munich Security Conference in Munich, Germany, last week. He also led the formal inauguration of the new chancery in Berlin on Monday, February 18.

In an interview with Henze on Monday, Locsin defended President Duterte’s remarks on Hitler.

In September 2016, the president drew parallels between Hitler’s killing of three million Jews and his war on drugs. “Hitler massacred three million Jews. Now there are three million drug addicts. I’d be happy to slaughter them,” he said.

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When asked about this quote, Locsin replied: “No. This is how he expresses himself. Remember his policy, according to surveys, inspire greater confidence. Why would he give up on that?

“I tell you, I said the same thing. I myself said the same thing before he even said it.”

Duterte’s 2016 reference to Hitler sparked widespread condemnation, with the German government describing it as “unacceptable”. The German foreign ministry also summoned the Philippine ambassador at that time.

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‘Hitler got some things right’

Henze also uploaded screenshots of Locsin’s Tweets that, among other things, said “some of the things Hitler did were right”. 

Locsin has been tweeting such remarks even before he was appointed foreign affairs chief last October.

“I believe that the drug menace is so big it needs a FINAL SOLUTION like the Nazis adopted. That I believe. No REHAB,” Locsin said in a tweet in August 2016.

In another tweet from the same month, Locsin wrote: “I hope I am not misjudged. I will try to analyze the drug problem and its FINAL; SOLUTION ala Auschwitz objectively.”

The Philippine embassy in Berlin is currently headed by Chargé d’ Affaires Lillibeth Pono. 

In a statement today, the Department of Foreign Affairs slammed Henze’s “biased representation” of his interview with Locsin.

“The video posted by Mr Henze on his blog is incomplete and misleading. It failed to show Mr Henze’s deliberate attempts to provoke Secretary Locsin into giving controversial remarks,” it said.

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