German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder on Tuesday expressed his shame for the Nazi Holocaust and vowed to fight anti-Semitism.

"I evince my shame in view of those who were murdered and before those of you who survived the hell of the concentration camps," Schroeder told a gathering in Berlin commemorating the 60th anniversary of the liberation of the Auschwitz death camp.

"The overwhelming majority of Germans living today bear no guilt for the Holocaust. But they bear a special responsibility," he said.

Schroeder admitted that threats of anti-Semitism remained in Germany and called on all democrats to fight against neo-Nazis.

"It cannot be denied that there is still anti-Semitism. Combating it is the task of the whole society," he said.

On Monday, Schroeder condemned the far-right National Democratic Party (NPD) for refusing to observe a minute's silence in a local parliament for millions of Nazi victims.

NPD representatives staged a walkout in the eastern Saxony state parliament on Friday while members of other parties were paying tribute.

Last September, the NPD shocked Germans by winning 9.2 percent of the vote in Saxony's state elections gaining 12 seats in the state's parliament.

World leaders will gather in Poland on Jan. 27 to mark the 60th anniversary of the liberation of the Nazi death camp at Auschwitz where at least 1.1 million people were murdered, most of them Jews.