German Foreign Minister Joschka Fischer has offered an emotional apology for the Holocaust to Brazil's large Jewish community, many of whom are descendants of refugees who fled the Nazis. Fischer fought back tears as he expressed Germany's shame over the murder of six million European Jews to Sao Paolo's Congregacão Israelita Paulista. "In their racist insanity, the Nazis destroyed a blossoming, centuries-old culture. Germany damaged a major part of its own soul." Later, Fischer took part in a Shabbat dinner in São Paolo, hosted by Rabbi Henry Sobel.