German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder on Monday condemned a far-right party for refusing to observe a minute's silence in a local parliament for millions of Nazi victims.

Schroeder said Germany has learned from its history not to give racism and anti-Semitism even the trace of a chance.

Some 12 National Democratic Party (NPD) representatives staged a walkout in the eastern Saxony state parliament on Friday while members of other parties were paying tribute.

Schroeder said he regretted that Germany's highest court had overturned his government's earlier ban of the NPD on technical grounds in 2003.

A few days later, world leaders will gather in Poland to mark the 60th anniversary of the liberation of the Nazi death camp Auschwitz where at least 1.1 million people were murdered, most of them Jews.

Source: CRIENGLISH.com