Samoa Prime Minister Apologises After 2007 Video Shows Him Leading 'Heil Hitler' Salute

Samoa's Prime Minister La'auli Leuatea Schmidt has apologised after a previously unseen video showed him leading a Nazi salute and saying "Heil Hitler" at a family gathering in 2007, Al Jazeera, CNN and The Associated Press reported.

The seven-second clip was made public on Sunday by the Samoa Observer newspaper, which said it was filmed at a Schmidt family reunion on the island of Savai'i in July 2007, when he was an MP and deputy speaker of parliament. Radio New Zealand said it had independently verified the footage, Al Jazeera reported.

What the video shows

In the clip, Schmidt is seen holding a microphone and leading about a dozen people in the salute. The newspaper reported that he was heard saying, "Raise your right hand, Heil Hitler!" AP reported. The group appears to follow his words and gesture.

The apology

In a statement published by the government on Monday, Schmidt said the video was filmed at "a private family gathering — not intended for the public."

"Whatever the context or intention at that gathering twenty years ago, I recognise that those words and gesture were inappropriate and capable of causing offence and hurt and I apologise for using them," he said, CNN reported.

"I reject Nazism, antisemitism, racism and all forms of political extremism," he added, saying the behaviour did not reflect his personal beliefs or those of Samoa's government and people. He said he now considers "this matter addressed."

Schmidt did not dispute the newspaper's report, AP said.

Academics' criticism

Richard Evans, a historian of Nazi Germany, told the Samoa Observer the footage was "shocking and disturbing," Al Jazeera reported.

Row with the Observer

The episode comes amid Schmidt's long-running dispute with the Observer, Samoa's largest newspaper group, which has been barred from government news conferences and events since November after he accused it of misleading coverage. The paper has called the ban "authoritarian," and Pacific media groups have urged him to reverse it, AP reported. On Friday, Schmidt confirmed that an aide had deleted an Observer reporter's photos of him taken at an official event, and defended the move.

A vocal supporter of Israel

Schmidt, who has led the Pacific island nation of about 220,000 people since winning an election in August 2025, has voiced strong support for Israel. He wore a Jewish prayer shawl at his swearing-in, where a shofar was sounded, and has pledged to open a Samoan embassy in Jerusalem before the end of 2026, Al Jazeera reported.

Samoa was a German colony in the early 20th century, CNN noted.