AfD Poised to Break Germany's Postwar Taboo
AfD Poised to Break Germany's Postwar Taboo
The News
Germany's far-right Alternative for Germany party is projected to win Sunday's state election in Saxony-Anhalt, a result that would put a far-right politician at the head of a German state government for the first time in the postwar era.
Polls days before the vote showed the AfD at roughly 40%, with the governing CDU trailing at just over 20%, in a state of more than 2 million people, the Times of Israel reported.
The party's lead candidate is Ulrich Siegmund, 35, whom Der Spiegel recently labeled "Germany's most dangerous man."
For Saxony-Anhalt's Jewish community — about 1,100 members, dependent on the state for security funding — the vote is a squeeze between a party accused of antisemitism and a left that Jewish critics say has turned on Israel.
Timeline
Around three dozen Jewish organizations in Germany publish a statement describing the AfD as unacceptable to Jewish voters.
Hans-Thomas Tillschneider, now deputy chairman of the AfD in Saxony-Anhalt, says the Central Council of Jews is "using" Islam to "bring about the abolition of our people." Critics said the language echoed conspiracy theories about Jews orchestrating Muslim migration; he denies it was antisemitic.
The synagogue of the Jewish Community of Halle, in Saxony-Anhalt, is targeted in a neo-Nazi terrorist attack.
Germany's domestic intelligence service classifies the AfD as right-wing extremist, allowing intelligence monitoring. The party is challenging the decision in court. In the same period the AfD becomes the largest opposition party and second-largest party in the German parliament.
Siegmund calls antisemitism allegations against his party "completely absurd," saying the AfD approaches Jews "with respect and appreciation."
Saxony-Anhalt's state government amends a law providing Jewish communities with increased security and funding. The AfD has not said whether it would leave the law untouched.
Siegmund addresses the AfD's regional congress in Magdeburg as the party's top candidate for the state election.
Saxony-Anhalt votes.
Reactions
Josef Schuster, president of the Central Council of Jews in Germany, told the Times of Israel the election is a "litmus test for the democratic center" and called Siegmund a "declared enemy of our open society." He urged the other parties to hold their line against cooperating with the AfD.
Dennis Baum, the US-based heir and spokesman for the Simson family, whose Jewish relatives ran the moped maker Siegmund has made his campaign symbol, told Tagesspiegel the AfD is "antisemitic," adding: "We find any association with the AfD repulsive and an insult to our family name." Arthur and Julius Simson were the last Jewish managing directors of Simson-Werke before the Nazis expropriated the company; the family won back exclusive rights to the brand name in a partial restitution deal after reunification.
Tillschneider, the main author of the state manifesto, told the Times of Israel the Nazi era was "the darkest chapter in German history," but added that "all of that happened a long time ago and no longer affects us in the here and now."
Artur Abramovych, chairman of Jews in the AfD — a group he says has about 25 members — argued Jews would benefit from an AfD government because it would end "state funding of left-wing extremist nonsense" and cut money for state broadcasting he called "anti-Israel reporting." Asked about former neo-Nazis in Siegmund's circle, he said: "As long as they do not introduce neo-Nazi ideology into the campaign, it is a secondary issue."
Max Privorozki, head of the Jewish Community of Halle and a board member of the state Jewish association, said he "personally doesn't like" the AfD's statements on Holocaust remembrance but stopped short of ruling out working with an AfD-led government. "Regardless of who forms the government in the future, we must continue to represent the interests of the Jewish community," he said, naming two red lines: the community's continued existence, and Israel's right to exist.
Siegmund did not respond to a request for comment from the Times of Israel.
What's Next
Voters in Saxony-Anhalt go to the polls Sunday, Sept. 6.
No other party has said it would form a coalition with the AfD. But if enough smaller parties fall below the 5% threshold to enter the state parliament, 40% of the vote could be enough to give the AfD an absolute majority on its own.
A state government controls police funding, school curricula and cultural institutions, and holds seats in the Bundesrat, Germany's upper house, whose approval is required for some federal legislation — which is why the outcome reaches beyond one eastern state.
Unresolved going into the vote: whether the AfD takes power, and what it does with the state's Jewish security and funding law if it does.
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What the manifesto says
The AfD's Saxony-Anhalt platform is among its most radical to date. It demands that children of asylum seekers be taught in "special classes" and refers to homosexuality as a "sexual deviation."
It also faults German politicians for avoiding "any positive reference to our rich history prior to 1933," calling that "national masochism" and promising to "heal this identity disorder" with a "patriotic turnaround." Across 250 pages, the Times of Israel reported, there is no explicit reference to the Holocaust, Nazi crimes or Jewish history.
The candidate
Siegmund is often described as the "friendly face" of the AfD and rarely draws attention for overtly extremist statements. Media investigations found four former members of a banned neo-Nazi organization among his close political associates; confronted with the findings, he defended them to Die Welt as "outstanding people."
The other pressure
Jewish leaders' worries are not aimed only at the AfD. The far-left Die Linke and the populist BSW have taken strongly critical positions toward Israel and have also faced accusations of antisemitism. Together with the AfD, the three parties account for up to 60% of the vote in some polls. Germany's formally affiliated Jewish community numbers about 100,000 nationwide.
Poll
Should Germany's mainstream parties keep refusing to govern with the AfD?
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