German Chancellor Angela Merkel called Saturday for fresh efforts to counter anti-semitism and to remember the Holocaust on the 65th anniversary of the defeat of the Nazi regime in World War II.

"Fighting anti-semitism at the root is a challenge for the whole of society, even if the vast majority of people do not think in an anti-semitic way," she wrote in a long piece in the Suddeutsche Zeitung daily.

Merkel vowed that she would "always" fight against anti-semitism even if that led to "insulting letters about being a 'puppet of the Jewish conspiracy' and worse".

She encouraged Germans to talk unflinchingly about World War II and the Holocaust, when Nazi Germany masterminded and carried out the murder of six million Jews.

"It is essential for the understanding of our identity and of our future to talk about Nazism and the extermination of the Jews," she wrote.

Denying that the Holocaust took place is illegal in Germany.

The Chancellor is due to attend a Victory Day parade in Moscow's Red Square on Sunday -- though French President Nicolas Sarkozy and reportedly Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi have cancelled due to the European financial crisis.