The leader of the Pacific island nation says a 2007 video showing him saying “Heil Hitler” does not reflect his beliefs.
Published on October 5, 2026
Samoa Prime Minister La’auli Leuatea Schmidt has apologized after a previously unseen video showed him leading a Nazi salute and saying “Heil Hitler” at a family gathering.
Schmidt apologized Monday after the Samoa Observer, a local newspaper, published the seven-second clip the day before.
The footage was recorded during a Schmidt family reunion on the island of Savai’i in July 2007, when he was an MP and deputy speaker of Parliament.
In the video, Schmidt holds a microphone as he leads a “hip hip” exchange with the group before telling those present to raise their right hands and say “Heil Hitler.”
A dozen people visible in the images appear to follow him.
Radio New Zealand said it had independently verified the footage through its correspondent in Samoa.
Schmidt said Monday that the words and gestures were inappropriate, regardless of the intent of the rally, and apologized for any offense they may have caused.
“I reject Nazism, anti-Semitism, racism and all forms of political extremism,” he said, adding that the episode represented neither his beliefs nor the values of the Samoan government and people.
The apology followed criticism from academics contacted by the Samoa Observer.
Richard Evans, a historian of Nazi Germany, told the Samoa Observer by email that the images were “shocking and disturbing.”
The newspaper also quotes Anne-Marie Brady, an academic at the University of Canterbury, who said Schmidt should explain and apologise.
Schmidt, who became prime minister in 2025, has publicly expressed his support for Israel.
He wore a Jewish prayer shawl during his swearing-in, during which the shofar, a horn used in Jewish religious ceremonies, was sounded.
He also pledged to open a Samoan embassy in Jerusalem before the end of 2026, a move taken by only a handful of countries due to the city’s disputed status and Palestinian claims to East Jerusalem as the capital of a future state.
In his statement Monday, Schmidt said he considered the controversy resolved and that he would focus on the country’s economic and social challenges.
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