Samoan PM apologises for 'heil Hitler' salute at family event in 2007

In short:

Samoa's prime minister has apologised for hailing Adolf Hitler during a private family event in 2007.

The Samoa Observer obtained a video showing Laaulialemalietoa Leuatea Schmidt giving a Nazi salute while saying "heil Hitler".

Mr Leuatea Schmidt said he recognised the words and gesture were "inappropriate and capable of causing offence and hurt".

Samoa's prime minister has apologised after video emerged showing him giving a Nazi salute while saying "heil Hitler".

Laaulialemalietoa Leuatea Schmidt issued a statement on social media saying the video was recorded at a private family gathering in Savai'i in 2007 and was not intended for the public.

According to the Samoa Observer, which first reported the video on Sunday, the 7-second clip shows Mr Leuatea Schmidt holding a microphone in his left hand before encouraging a group of about 13 people to raise their right hands and say the phrase.

The camera then reportedly pans across the gathering, showing others repeating the phrase with their right arms raised.

In the statement, Mr Leuatea Schmidt — who has German and Samoan heritage — said he rejected Nazism, antisemitism and racism in all forms.

"I recognise that those words and gesture were inappropriate and capable of causing offence and hurt and I apologise for using them," he said.

"They do not reflect my personal beliefs, nor the values of the Government or people of Samoa as in the public record of statements I made since becoming Prime Minister."

Germany controlled Western Samoa — now known as Samoa — from 1900 until World War I.

German rule left a lasting imprint on Samoa, from colonial buildings and infrastructure to families descended from German settlers.

The Samoa Observer reported that the video was filmed at a family reunion.

Mr Leuatea Schmidt was deputy speaker of Parliament at the time, having won a seat in the general election the previous year.

He became prime minister in 2025 following a snap election after former prime minister Fiame Naomi Mata'afa failed to pass the national budget.

Mr Leuatea Schmidt said his government remained committed to a constitutional democracy founded on respect for human dignity and the rule of law.

The report was published two days after Mr Leuatea Schmidt's government reaffirmed a ban on the Samoa Observer, barring the newspaper access to the prime minister and coverage of government events and functions.

Previously, the Government Press Secretariat lodged a formal complaint to the Media Council on a number of articles the paper published, deeming them to a have "breached the standard of Media Ethics".

The editor of the Observer has said the ban on the paper attending the prime minister's press conferences would not stop it from doing its job.

The Media Council's decision on the matter has not yet been released.