Berlusconi says death camp remark 'out of context' - update

(see related) (ANSA) - Rome, April 28 - Three-time premier Silvio Berlusconi on Monday said his claim that Germans denied the existence of concentration camps "was extrapolated out of context" by "the European left", and affirmed his "historic friendship with the Jewish people and the State of Israel". He added that he was the victim of a "campaign trap" ahead of European elections on May 25. Over the weekend the media magnate and centre-right leader said "for the Germans, the concentration camps never existed," in a fresh attack on his old foe, European Parliament Speaker Martin Schulz, whom he described as a death-camp trusty in a widely criticised jab after taking over the EU's rotating presidency in 2003. Angela Merkel's spokesman Steffen Feibert on Monday said the claim "was so absurd that the German government won't comment".