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Mike Pence

WASHINGTON. – US Vice President Mike Pence paid a sombre visit to the former Nazi concentration camp at Dachau, Germany yesterday, against the backdrop of concerns about a surge of anti-Semitic incidents in the United States since Donald Trump was elected president. Pence, his wife Karen and daughter Charlotte toured the camp where more than 200 000 political prisoners, Jews and others were incarcerated by the Nazis between 1933 and 1945. More than 40 000 people died there.

Under grey skies, the Pences placed a wreath at a memorial in the centre of the camp and visited the barracks, a crematorium and a gas chamber. “It was a miracle that we survived,” former Dachau prisoner Abba Naor told the vice president and his family, describing a typical meal as “a slice of bread”.

Pence signed a guest book, ending his visit with an hour-long service at the Church of Reconciliation on the camp grounds. “Moving and emotional tour of Dachau today,” he tweeted on his official Twitter account. “We can never forget atrocities against Jews and others in the Holocaust.”

The vice president and other senior figures in the Trump administration are touring Europe to assure nervous allies of Washington’s “unwavering” support for NATO, as Pence put it on Saturday in a speech to an international security conference in Munich.

But the stop in Dachau also had a US dimension to it as it comes amid concerns over a surge of anti-Semitic incidents in the United States.

Nearly 60 bomb threats have been received by 48 Jewish community centres across the country, most of them in three days in January leading up to Trump’s inauguration, CNN reported.

A proliferation of post-election incidents involving swastikas painted on school walls and other anti-Semitic symbols have raised concerns that white supremacist groups have been emboldened by Trump’s win.

Asked about the incidents twice this past week, Trump initially reacted by deflecting the questions and then by taking umbrage.

He angrily ordered an ultra-orthodox Jewish reporter at a White House news conference on Thursday to “sit down”, after he asked about the bomb threats to Jewish community centres, prefacing the question by saying no one in his community thought Trump himself was anti-Semitic.

“Number one, I am the least anti-Semitic person that you’ve ever seen in your entire life,” Trump said. “Number two, racism. The least racist person.”

“I hate the charge, I find it repulsive, I hate even the question,” he added, accusing the reporter of asking “a very insulting question.”

Questions were previously raised when the White House marked International Holocaust Remembrance Day on January 28 with a statement that made no mention of Jews or anti-Semitism.

Meanwhile, US First Lady Melania Trump, usually a demure and soft-spoken presence at her husband’s side, broke with form on Saturday, reciting the Lord’s Prayer before issuing a scathing rebuke of his enemies and her critics at a campaign-style stop in Florida.

Preceding her husband on the dais at a rally in the city of Melbourne, the First Lady started her remarks with the words “let us pray,” before beginning her recitation of the Lord’s prayer.

“Our Father, who art in Heaven, hallowed be thy name. Thy Kingdom come, thy will be done, on Earth as it is in Heaven,” Mrs Trump read from the lectern, wrapping up the roughly half-minute-long prayer with an “Amen”.

She then launched into an uncharacteristically strident defence of her husband – and her own brief tenure as First Lady.

“The America we envision is one that works for all Americans and where all Americans can work and succeed,” she said.

“A nation committed to a greater civility and unity between people from all sides of the political divide. I will always stay true to myself and be truthful to you, no matter what the opposition is saying about me,” said the First Lady.

“I will act in the best interests of all of you. I’m committed to creating and supporting initiatives dear to my heart which will have impact on women, and children all around the world,” she said.

“My husband is creating a country of great safety, and prosperity,” the First Lady said before introducing Trump, ceding the podium to cheers and applause.

Melania Trump has been a rare presence with her husband since the inauguration. – AFP.