Germany: Nazi references at AfD party conference

Featured image: Alice Weidel, co-leader of AfD speaking at the AfD party conference in Magdeburg. Source: tagesschau

Last weekend Alternative for Germany (AfD) held its party conference in the city of Magdeburg in the German state of Saxony-Anhalt. The main point of the conference was choosing candidates for the European parliament elections next year.

The AfD plays an important role in impulsing the further reactionary development of the German State by putting forward reactionary policies, that at first are rejected, but later are taken up by the other parties with differences in formulation. In addition to this the party has recently grown, reaching second place in recent federal voting polls, with 21% of those who answered saying they would vote for the party.

Several interesting statements were made during the congress. The main parliamentary leader of the AfD, Alice Weidel, stated the following regarding migration: “We need Fortress Europe to protect our homeland, and we’re doing that together with our European partners”. This is an open reference to the term “Fortress Europe” used in the war propaganda of the Nazis. A reference which is well known in Germany.

We have previously reported on the consequences of this genocidal policy put forward by Germany and other major imperialist powers in Europe, which the AfD puts forward to intensify. An clear example of this is the massacre of up to 600 refugees by the Greek coastguard on the 14^th of June this year.

Another reference to German war propaganda and Nazism came from the leader of AfD in the state of Thuringia, Björn Höcke, declaring that “this EU must die so that the real Europe can live”. This is referring to the slogan “they must die so that Germany can live”, used in the imperial and fascist German war propaganda in the First and Second World War. The quote is from the poem Soldatenabschied (Soldiers’ farewell) written by Heinrich Lersch in 1914. Lersch later became a member of the Nazi Party and an avid supporter of Adolf Hitler.

As is usual there were large protests against the AfD conference. Media reports of thousands participating in the protests. We have previously reported on the protests against the AfD party conference in city of Offenburg on the 4^th of March and the following house raids against anti-fascist by the German police.

Another interesting remark came in an interview with the other co-leader of the AfD, Tino Chrupalla. He stated that the German family consists of “Father, Mother and Woman”. Whether this is the new policy of the AfD regarding the family of if he let his personal dreams slip through remains to be seen.