"Anti-Semitism is more pervasive than we imagine and that is why we must act intensively against it," German Chancellor Angela Merkel said, while she urged ‘’intensive action’’ against it and vigilance particularly regarding young people from countries ‘’where hatred of Israel and anti-Semitism is widespread.’’

In her weekly video podcast on the government site, Merkel stressed that anti-Semitism is "unfortunately too often" evident in society. Germany still has a "big task" to resist hate speech and uphold its constitution, she said.

She called on the country’s 81 million residents to be uncompromising in resisting anti-Semitism and called on every adult to intervene if he or she saw signs of it emerging in schools or elsewhere.

Merkel’s remarks came as she is set to in augurate on Monday of an art exhibition at the German Historical Museum in Berlin featuring some 100 items from Israel's Yad Vashem Holocaust Memorial to six million European Jews murdered by Nazi Germany.

She described Yad Vashem's provision of the exhibits as a display of trust, which reminded Germans of their "everlasting responsibility" for the Shoah.

It was important that every generation dealt with German history, so that young people understood the many contributions made by Jews to German science, culture and economic development, she added.

When she recalled what Germany had lost in terms of Jewish life through Nazism - from the late 1920s until 1945 - it was matter of "great agony," Merkel said.

"All the more, it means today to welcome Jewish life, to combat anti-Semitism, and here not to allow any compromises," she said.

In her podcast, Merkel quoted claims made by Josef Schuster, head of the Central Council of Jews in Germany, who said last November that the a large portion of the asylum seekers entering Germany "have grown up in an environment in which hostility towards Israel and anti-Semitism are a common practice."

She echoed the claim, saying, "We have to deal with it - especially among young people, with a family background from countries where hatred of Israel and the hatred of Jews is becoming widespread."

Germany welcomed some 1.1 million asylum seekers in 2015, mostly from Middle Eastern countries.

She also said a shift was needed in Holocaust education in Germany, instead of focusing on Jewish victimhood "we need show people what the contribution of Jews in Germany… to science, culture and social and economic development." by Maud Swinnen