Musk: Germans Shouldn't Feel Guilty of Past 'Sins'

Elon Musk told supporters of a German conservative populist party that "it’s OK to be proud to be German" and "there’s too much emphasis on past guilt."

Musk appeared via video conference at an Alternative fur Deutschland campaign event on Saturday and encouraged supporters to take pride in "being German."

"I’m very excited for the AfD, and I think you’re really the best hope for Germany," the Tesla and SpaceX CEO told the enthusiastic crowd in Halle. "I think something that’s very important is that people take pride in Germany and being German. This is very important.

"It’s OK to be proud to be German. It’s a very important principle, and it’s good to be proud of German culture, German values and not to lose that in some kind of multiculturalism that dilutes everything."

Musk said Germany is "an ancient nation" that "goes back thousands of years." He added that Germans today should not pay for "sins" committed during Word Wars I and II.

"I think there’s, frankly, too much of a focus on past guilt and we need to move beyond that. "Children should not be guilty of the sins of their parent or let alone their great-grandparents even."

Those comments caused a stir in Israel.

"The remembrance and acknowledgement of the dark past of the country and its people should be central in shaping the German society," said Dani Dayan, chairman of Yad Vashem, Israel’s memorial to the victims of the Holocaust, in a post on X. "Failing to do so is an insult to the victims of Nazism and a clear danger to the democratic future of Germany."

On Thursday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu defended Musk as a supporter of Israel following the billionaire's recent action that Democrats called a Nazi salute during Trump’s inauguration ceremony

During his talk to AfD, Musk also said the European Union was preventing its members from having more of a say in their respective countries.

"I think you want more self-determination for Germany and for the countries in Europe, and less from Brussels, that’s my opinion," he said. "I think there’s too much bureaucracy from Brussels, too much control from sort of global elite."

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