Samoa leader apologises for Nazi salute after video from 2007 emerges

Samoa's prime minister has apologised after a video emerged of him giving a Nazi salute while saying "Heil Hitler" at a family gathering.

In the seven-second clip filmed in July 2007, Laaulialemalietoa Leuatea Schmidt is seen leading about a dozen people in the salute. "Raise your right hand, Heil Hitler!" he says, then thanks the group for responding.

Schmidt has acknowledged that his words and gesture "were inappropriate and capable of causing offence and hurt", adding that the clip was recorded at a private gathering and "not intended for the public".

"I reject Nazism, antisemitism, racism and all forms of political extremism," Schmidt said in a statement published on Facebook on Monday.

The footage was first reported by local outlet the Samoa Observer in a news story on Sunday.

It said the video was filmed at a Schmidt family reunion in July 2007, when Schmidt was deputy speaker of parliament and quoted a family member who said he was the master of ceremonies at the gathering.

Samoa, a tiny island nation of about 221,000 people, sits about halfway between New Zealand and Hawaii.

It was under Germany's control in the early 20th century, but the colonisation ended shortly after World War One broke out.

Schmidt, who has Samoan and German heritage, took office as the country's eighth prime minister in September 2025.

He wore a Jewish prayer shawl during his swearing-in ceremony and has made clear his support for Israel during the early days of his premiership, saying that Samoa "stood with Israel".

"If people around the world don't like it, that's up to them, but Samoa stands with the land of God... There is only one God our country believes in, the God of Israel," he had said.