A leader from the controversial Alternative für Deutschland has furiously denied that being against further EU integration, mass migration and only believing in two genders makes her a Nazi.
Speaking to the Express while campaigning in East Berlin, AfD deputy parliamentary leader Beatrix Von Storch said it made her very angry when people claimed her party was comparable to Adolf Hitler’s Nazis.
“We should not be talking about the Third Reich and water down all the damage done,” she said. “The average young person might think Hitler was not all bad if [people such as the AfD are] like them. So we should not do that.
“If people start to understand Nazi means you think there are only two genders, that you’re against mass illegal migration and you’re not in favour of an ever closer European Union that’s absolute rubbish and it’s dangerous.”
As she handed out leaflets and newspapers for the AfD, Von Storch came across a billboard of Christian Democratic Union [CDU] candidate for Chancellor Friedrich Merz defaced with a black ‘FCK AFD’ sticker – making it look like he had a Hitler moustache.
The politician, who claims to count Nigel Farage amongst her friends, marched across the road and ripped the sticker from Merz’s nose before answering the Express’s questions about Nazi slurs from political rivals.
During a reporting trip to Germany, we met many ordinary voters who believe comparisons between the AfD and their country’s dark past are legitimate.
In Saxony, mother-of-two Annette Jacob called the party “Nazis” while Carsten Lorenz called them a « threat to democracy ».
But such criticism has not stopped the AfD’s popularity from spiking and, as Sunday’s General Election approaches, the emergence of a hard-right political force is making the race one the most intense campaigns since the Berlin Wall came down.
Although the current largest party in the national parliament, the CDU, is on course to win the largest vote share, Europe’s powerhouse economy has been rocked by opinion polls showing the AfD in comfortable second place.
The hard-right group, which has a regional leader who can legally be called a ‘fascist’ and entire local groups on government extremist watch lists, had never won a seat before 2017 – but is now on course to capture nearly a quarter of the Bundestag.
Under Germany’s coalition parliamentary system, most parties from across the political divide would normally work together to govern.
However, the mainstream parties have traditionally operated a “firewall” policy that blocks cooperation with Far Right groups and have vowed not to involve the AfD regardless of how many votes or members of parliament they might win.
It’s a stance that will come under unprecedented strain if the AfD wins the 142 seats pollster YouGov has projected they might.
There is also outside pressure from the US to remove the firewall.
Last week American Vice President JD Vance threatened to remove military protection for the country if it did not consider the “undemocratic” policy of not working with the AfD.
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