Prince Charles says anti-refugee populism ‘echoes’ Nazi Germany

The Prince of Wales said Thursday that the rise of anti-refugee populism and intolerance of other faiths across the world echoes the atrocities of Nazi Germany.

Prince Charles, the heir to Britain’s throne, said his parents’ generation “fought and died in a battle against intolerance, monstrous extremism and an inhuman attempt to exterminate the Jewish population of Europe.”

“That nearly 70 years later we should still be seeing such evil persecution is to me beyond all belief,” the prince said in an address on BBC Radio 4, NBC News reported. “We owe it to those who suffered and died so horribly not to repeat the horrors of the past.”

“We are now seeing the rise of many populist groups across the world that are increasingly aggressive to those who adhere to a minority faith,” he said. “All of this has deeply disturbing echoes of the dark days of the 1930s.”

Prince Charles did not mention any politicians or parties by name.

He also urged listeners this Christmas to remember “how the story of the Nativity unfolds with the fleeing of the holy family to escape violent persecution.”

“We might also remember that when the prophet Muhammad migrated from Mecca to Medina, he did so because he too was seeking the freedom for himself and his followers to worship,” he said. “Whichever religious path we follow, the destination is the same: to value and respect the other person, accepting their right to live out their peaceful response to the love of God.”

Labour MEP Claude Moraes, chair of the European parliament’s civil liberties, justice and home affairs committee, praised Prince Charles’ comments, The Guardian reported.

He said it was “obvious” which politicians the prince was referring to, “but for protocol reasons he can’t say.”

“It was a good intervention I think when the right and rightwing UK newspapers dominate the anti-refugee, intolerance, and anti-EU protectionist narrative,” Mr. Moraes told The Guardian.