Allegations - Memorial site leader accuses AfD of NS affiliations
Buchenwald Memorial Site Leader Jens-Christian Wagner sees open references to National Socialism from the Thuringian AfD. "The AfD is actually letting the mask slip more and more," Wagner told the German Press Agency in Erfurt. Recently, the Thuringian AfD leader Bjoern Hoecke spread a quote from publisher Arthur Moeller van den Bruck on Telegram. Moeller van den Bruck wrote the book "The Third Reich" in the 1920s. "That's an open Nazi reference - and approvingly so," Wagner, historian and professor of history in media and publicity at the Friedrich Schiller University in Jena, stated.
Moeller van den Bruck died in 1925 and did not live to see Hitler's seizure of power. He is considered a representative of the Conservative Revolution and, according to Wagner, was a pioneer of National Socialism. Moreover, he was the namesake of the NS state.
A spokesperson for the Thuringian AfD responded to the allegations: "Mr. Wagner's allegations are, as usual, simply grotesque and based on constructed connections and guilt by association."
Parole reminiscent of SA slogan
Wagner also pointed out that the Thuringian AfD placed a folk song by Franz Langheinrich as the leading item in their election program for the autumn landtag election. Langheinrich wrote for the art magazine "Das Bild" in the 1930s. Art historian Kirsten Baumann wrote in her 2002 published dissertation "Word Fights. Volksdeutsche and National Socialist Art Criticism 1927–1939," that the magazine was marked by open antisemitism.
Wagner said the text of the song is harmlessly German-praising. But if the text of a hardcore National Socialist and volkish thinker is placed before the AfD election program, that's "an explicitly positive reference to National Socialism." "That's where Hoecke shows, that's where the AfD stands."
On the cover page of the Thuringian AfD's election program, in large letters, is the slogan "Everything for Thuringia!" The phrase reminds one of an SA slogan, for which Hoecke has already been sentenced to fines by two courts for use. Both sentences are not yet legally binding.
- Jens-Christian Wagner, the leader of the Buchenwald Memorial Site, has criticized open references to National Socialism in the Thuringian AfD's Election Program.
- Wagner deemed the Thuringian AfD as gradually removing their mask, citing recent actions by their leader Björn Höcke.
- Höcke shared a quote from Arthur Moeller van den Bruck on Telegram, a publisher known for writing "The Third Reich" in the 1920s.
- Moeller van den Bruck, though a representative of the Conservative Revolution, is considered by Wagner to have been a pioneer of National Socialism.
- The Thuringian AfD denounced Wagner's allegations, labeling them as 'grotesque' and based on 'constructed connections and guilt by association'.
- Wagner also noted the placement of a folk song by Franz Langheinrich as the leading item in the AfD's election program, which had been marked by open antisemitism in the 1930s.
- The use of the song, according to Wagner, constituted an 'explicitly positive reference' to National Socialism, a stance reflected by Höcke.
- The cover page of the AfD's election program features the slogan "Everything for Thuringia!", which has echoes of an SA slogan, associated with Hoecke's prior legal issues.
- This controversy surrounding the Thuringian AfD in the context of Germany's history and the presence of memorial sites for the Buchenwald concentration camp, highlights the ongoing tensions around extremism in contemporary German politics.
