Secret plan against Germany
Nobody should know about this meeting: high-ranking AfD politicians, neo-Nazis and financially strong entrepreneurs met in a hotel near Potsdam in November. They planned nothing less than the expulsion of millions of people from Germany. January 10, 2024
Two dozen people gradually enter the brightly lit dining room of a country hotel near Potsdam. Some are members of the AfD, and a leading figure in the Identitarian Movement is there. Some are fraternity members, middle class and middle class people, lawyers, politicians, entrepreneurs, doctors. Two CDU members are also there, members of the Union of Values.
A detailed portrait of the co-operator of the hotel has just been published in Die Zeit, which describes her proximity to right-wing circles.
Two men invited to the appointment. One is in his late 60s and has been in the right-wing extremist scene almost his entire life: Gernot Mörig, a former dentist from Düsseldorf. The other is called Hans-Christian Limmer, a well-known investor in the catering sector. Limmer made the back discount chain Backwerk big, and today he is a partner in the burger chain “Hans im Glück” and in the food supplier “Pottsalat”. Unlike Mörig, Limmer is not present; he remains the rich man in the background. When CORRECTIV asked him about this before this text was published, he replied: He distanced himself from the content of the meeting and “didn’t play any role” in the planning.
It is the morning of November 25th, just before nine o’clock, a cloudy Saturday. Snow collects on the parked cars in the yard. What happens that day in the Adlon country house seems like a chamber play - but it is reality. This shows what can happen when right-wing extremist idea providers, representatives of the AfD and financially strong supporters of the right-wing scene mix. Their most important goal: People should be able to be expelled from Germany based on racist criteria - regardless of whether they have a German passport or not.
The meeting should remain secret. Communication between organizers and guests should only take place via letters. However, copies of it were leaked CORRECTIVELY. And we took pictures. In front and behind the house. We were also able to film covertly in the house. A reporter was on site undercover with a camera and checked into the hotel under a different name. He followed the meeting closely and was able to observe who arrived and attended the meeting. In addition, Greenpeace researched the meeting and provided CORRECTIV with photos and copies of documents. Our reporters spoke to several AfD members; Sources confirmed the participants’ statements to CORRECTIV.
So we were able to reconstruct the meeting exactly.
It is much more than just a meeting of right-wing ideologues, some of whom have a lot of money. Among the participants are people with influence within the AfD. One of them will play a key role in this story. He boasts that he will be speaking for the AfD’s federal party executive committee that day. He is Alice Weidel’s personal advisor.
About ten months before the state elections in Thuringia, Saxony and Brandenburg, this meeting shows that racist attitudes extend to the federal level of the party. And it shouldn’t just stop at attitude; Some of the politicians also want to act accordingly - although the AfD claims that it is not a right-wing extremist party.
This is legally sensitive for the AfD with regard to the debate about a possible ban procedure. At the same time, it is a foretaste of what could happen if the AfD comes to power in Germany.
What is being drafted there this weekend is nothing less than an attack on the Constitution of the Federal Republic.
The Conspirators
AfD
Roland Hartwig, right-hand man of party leader Alice Weidel
Gerrit Huy, member of the Bundestag
Ulrich Siegmund, parliamentary group leader for Saxony-Anhalt
Tim Krause, deputy chairman of the Potsdam district
THE MÖRIG CLAN
Gernot Mörig, a retired dentist from Düsseldorf
Arne Friedrich Mörig, son of Gernot Mörig
Astrid Mörig, wife of Gernot Mörig
NEON-NAZIS
Martin Sellner, a right-wing extremist activist from Austria
Mario Müller, a convicted violent criminal
A young “identitarian”
HOST
Wilhelm Wilderink
Mathilda Martina Huss
ENVIRONMENTAL ORGANIZATIONS
Simone Baum, Union of Values NRW, Board of Directors
Michaela Schneider, Values Union of North Rhine-Westphalia, deputy board member
Silke Schröder, German Language Association, board member
Ulrich Vosgerau, former board member of Desiderius
Act 1. Scene 1: A country hotel by the lake
The villa is located on Lehnitzsee not far from Potsdam, a 1920s building with a tiled roof and a view of the water. The first guests arrive the evening before. A white SUV from Stade rolls into the yard, the band Frei.Wild blasts out of the window: “We, we, we, we are creating Germany.”
Many guests arrive the next Saturday morning, heading across the parquet floor towards a white-covered table with around 30 plates, each with a folded napkin.
Many have received personal invitations that basically contain everything important: there is talk of an “exclusive network” and a “minimum donation” of 5,000 euros, which is recommended for participation. Collecting money is a “core task of our group,” said the letters from the “Düsseldorf Forum,” as the group calls itself. And it seems that she is pursuing this goal: collecting donations from wealthy people and entrepreneurs who secretly want to support right-wing extremist alliances. “We need patriots who actively do something and personalities who support these activities financially,” the invitation says. At the meeting in the villa, the organizers would announce a “neutral account” and the amount could also be paid in cash.
But what should you donate to?
The first indication of this is in the invitation, signed by the organizers Mörig, the dentist, and Limmer, the former Backwerk partner. In another invitation letter, which is available to CORRECTIV, Mörig wrote: There is an “overall concept, in the sense of a master plan”. He will be introduced by a speaker who he proudly announces: “None other than Martin Sellner” will speak – the long-time face of the right-wing extremist Identitarian movement. Anyone who took part in the weekend knew what it would be about. Act 1. Scene 2 – A master plan to get rid of immigrants
Sellner, author and a leading figure in the New Right, is the first speaker at the meeting. Mörig announces him and says that Sellner has the master plan. Mörig quickly comes to the point that is supposed to be about today: “remigration”.
In the introduction, the organizer gives Sellner’s thesis particular weight: Everything else - the attitude towards corona measures and vaccinations, the situation in Ukraine and Israel - are all points of contention on the right. The only question that brings them together is the question of remigration: “whether we as a people still survive in the West or not”.
The majority of the lectures and discussions on this day will revolve around this central point, “remigration”.
Sellner takes the floor. He explains the concept in the course of the lecture as follows: There are three target groups of migration who should leave Germany. Or, as he says, “to reverse the settlement of foreigners.” He lists who he means: asylum seekers, foreigners with the right to remain - and “unassimilated citizens”. In his view, the latter are the biggest “problem”. In other words: Sellner divides the people into those who should live unmolested in Germany and those to whom this basic right should not apply.
Basically, the thought games on this day all boil down to one thing: people should be able to be pushed out of Germany if they supposedly have the wrong skin color or origin - and, from the point of view of people like Sellner, are not sufficiently “assimilated”. Even if they are German citizens.
That would be an attack on the Basic Law – on citizenship and on the principle of equality. The right-wing radical concept of remigration Act 1, Scene 3 - No objections from the AfD - despite the discussion about a ban
In terms of content, there is no fundamental criticism of the idea of the “master plan” in the group; there are many supportive questions. There are only doubts about its feasibility.
Silke Schröder, for example, a real estate entrepreneur and member of the board of the CDU-affiliated German Language Association, wonders how this should work in practice. Because as soon as a person has an “appropriate” passport, this is “an impossibility”.
This is not an obstacle for Sellner. He answers: You have to put a “high pressure” on people to adapt, for example through “tailor-made laws”. Remigration cannot be done quickly; it is “a decade-long project”.
The AfD members present also have no objections, on the contrary. AfD member of the Bundestag Gerrit Huy emphasizes that she has been pursuing the outlined goal for a long time.
When she joined the party seven years ago, she “already brought a remigration concept with her”. For this reason, the AfD no longer argues against dual citizenship. “Because then you can take the German one away again, they still have one.” As Huy puts it, immigrants with a German passport are supposed to be lured into a trap
rden.
The AfD parliamentary group leader in Saxony-Anhalt, Ulrich Siegmund, is also in the room. He will appear later to solicit donations. He is powerful in his party, also because his regional association has high approval ratings. His sales argument, in keeping with the spirit of the “master plan”: the streetscape needs to change and foreign restaurants need to be put under pressure. It should be “as unattractive as possible for this clientele to live in Saxony-Anhalt”. And that can be done very easily. His comments could have consequences in the next election.
CORRECTIV sent some of the participants questions about the meeting afterwards. Among other things: Looking back, what do you think about the central statements made there?
AfD member of the Bundestag Gerrit Huy did not respond to our questions by the time of going to press, nor did AfD politician Roland Hartwig or the party’s federal executive committee.
Ulrich Siegmund from Saxony-Anhalt had the media law firm Höcker write what they usually write: You are not allowed to quote from their answer, but your client is being accused of false things. Among other things, he was not there as a member of parliament for the AfD, but as a “private person”. In its answer, the law firm leaves open how Siegmund views the concept of “remigration”. He simply states that he does not want to “unlawfully expel” people.
And Gernot Mörig distances himself. He “remembers” Sellner’s statements “differently.” He writes to us: If he had consciously perceived such statements, they “would not have gone without objection from me” - especially with regard to the unequal treatment of German citizens.
The AfD feels that it is on the road to success; the current shift to the right is inspiring the party. According to recent surveys, it would be the strongest force in federal states such as Saxony and Thuringia with more than 30 percent - well ahead of the CDU, SPD and the Greens. At the same time, however, the party is under pressure. The Office for the Protection of the Constitution rates the AfD in Thuringia, Saxony-Anhalt and Saxony as right-wing extremist. Most recently, he classified the Junge Alternative (JA) in North Rhine-Westphalia as a suspected case. The reasons given were proximity to the Identitarian Movement, a “national-ethnic understanding of the people”, and “to make people with a migration background look contemptible”.
A ban on the party is being discussed more frequently these days. Over 400,000 people signed a petition for this, and the CDU politician Marco Wanderwitz, in turn, is gathering supporters in the Bundestag who would like to support a motion for a ban with him.
The AfD itself takes a stand against this and presents itself to the outside world as a democratic force: “As a party based on the rule of law, the AfD is unconditionally committed to the German people as the sum of all people who have German citizenship,” it says on its website. Immigrants with a German passport are “just as German as the descendants of a family that has lived in Germany for centuries” and: “There are no first or second class citizens for us”.
The statements at the meeting were different: At least the AfD politicians represented there freely professed their nationalistic ideals, unobserved from outside; There are no significant differences to the positions of extremist right-wing ideologists. Act 1. Scene 4 The utopia of the Nazis
Outside the snow crumbles into gray slush. But according to sources, the group is in a good mood; for them it is a good time. Organizer Gernot Mörig says he is usually a pessimistic guy. But on this day he feels hopeful. And that has, among other things, to do with the “master plan” of the right-wing thinker Sellner.
One idea is a “model state” in North Africa. Sellner explains that up to two million people could live in such an area. Then you have a place where you can “move” people. There are opportunities for training and sport there. And everyone who supports refugees could go there too.
What Sellner designs is reminiscent of an old idea: in 1940, the National Socialists planned to deport four million Jews to the island of Madagascar. It is unclear whether Sellner has the historical parallel in mind. It may also be a coincidence that the organizers chose this villa for their conspiratorial meeting: just eight kilometers away from the hotel is the house of the Wannsee Conference, where the Nazis coordinated the systematic extermination of the Jews.
Sellner throws in another combat term from the right-wing extremist vocabulary: the so-called “ethnic choice”. He has already secured the domain for it. Sellner says: “It’s not just that the strangers live here. They vote here too.” “Ethnic vote”, which means that people with a migration background would primarily vote for “migrant-friendly” parties.
This means: He doesn’t just delegitimize
the elections themselves, but makes Germans strangers in their own country. According to the definition of the Federal Statistical Office, 20.2 million people have an “immigration history”, meaning they have immigrated themselves since 1950 or are the children of these immigrants.
It becomes clear how the strategies of right-wing extremist actors and groups intertwine: Sellner supplies the ideas, the AfDers take them up and carry them into the party. In the background, others take care of networking: wealthy people, middle-class people, middle-class people, and debates always revolve around one question: How can a unified ethnic community be achieved? Act 2, Scene 1. Influencer serving the eviction master plan
It’s now about the practical details, the next steps: Mörig, who later describes himself as the “sole organizer” in response to questions from the editorial team, speaks of a committee of experts that will develop this plan - the expulsion of people with a migration background, including German citizens should. From an “ethical, legal and logistical perspective” – a racist plan in a legal guise. Mörig already has one member in mind: Hans-Georg Maaßen, the former head of the Office for the Protection of the Constitution.
Maaßen is a frequent topic on this day. According to several reports, the former constitutional protection officer is planning to announce the founding of his own party in January; the people in the room already know this; They bring up the new group several times at the conference.
But participants don’t seem to be taking this planned party very seriously. They are more concerned with their own plans, and they should be ready when “a patriotic force in this country has taken responsibility,” said Mörig.
The discussion is about how the idea of remigration should become a political strategy. Sellner says: To do this, “metapolitical, pre-political power” must be built up in order to “change the climate of opinion.” An active approach must support the coming right-wing government in Germany even after the election.
If you follow the content of the lectures, that practically means: money should also flow. In influencer projects, in propaganda, in action movements and university projects. That’s one side, the building of a right-wing extremist counter-public.
The other is the weakening of democracy, which means casting doubt on elections, discrediting the Constitutional Court, suppressing other opinions, and fighting public media. Act 2, Scene 2. As if the power had already tipped
One speaker follows the other, each lecture lasting about an hour. In between, lunch is brought and a waitress seems annoyed by the number of guests she has to serve.
In the afternoon Ulrich Vosgerau steps forward. He is a lawyer and was a member of the board of trustees of the AfD-affiliated Desiderius Erasmus Foundation and represented the AfD before the Federal Constitutional Court in the dispute over funding for the foundation.
The constitutional lawyer talks about postal votes, it’s about processes, about voting secrecy, and about his concerns about young voters of Turkish origin who are unable to form an independent opinion. In response to CORRECTIV questions, he later confirms this sentence. But he doesn’t want to be able to remember the idea of expatriating citizens in Sellner’s lecture.
Vosgerau considers the suggestion that a sample letter could be developed before the coming elections to cast doubt on the legality of elections to be conceivable: the more people take part, he agrees, the higher the probability of success. When he closes there is applause.
Others here also speak as if the balance of power had already been tipped. Apparently they believe they are on the verge of a breakthrough. Mario Müller, a member of the Identitarian Movement, a repeatedly convicted violent criminal and currently a research assistant to AfD member of the Bundestag Jan Wenzel Schmidt, also spoke in this style during his lecture on this day. Act 3, Scene 1. The Mörig Clan
Through the lattice windows of the country house a view of the company present opens up. The hall exudes old-fashioned splendor, a spinet in the corner, a grandfather clock on the wall, and many of the guests wear shirts and jackets.
The times seem good to them, the plans have been drawn up, at least in broad outline. But everything depends on money, Gernot Mörig knows that. In the 1970s, Mörig served as federal leader of the “Association of Home Loyal Youth,” a right-wing extremist association with a blood-and-soil ideology. Their 2009 spin-off “Heimattreu deutsche Jugend” was banned because of their neo-Nazi agenda. The “German youth loyal to their homeland” was so right-wing extremist that even Andreas Kalbitz, former head of the AfD in Brandenburg, was expelled from the party: he had previously been a guest at one of the group’s camps.
It was Mörig who selected the guests and specified the program
has. It was he who wrote about the “master plan” in his letter and asked for donations from those invited. He says that guests can “discreetly” hand over cash donations and conference contributions to his wife on site. He later says: The money he collects will be used to support smaller organizations, such as Martin Sellner.
This means: Everyone in the room who paid money as agreed is financing the Identitarian Movement and also Sellner himself. That’s what Mörig says. But he wants more.
It shows a list of supporters who supposedly want to pay money or have already paid; also those who are not there: Christian Goldschagg, founder of the fitness chain Fit-Plus and former partner of Süddeutscher Verlag. He later wrote to CORRECTIV that he had “not transferred any amount for this event or the project you described” and had nothing to do with the AfD. Also: Klaus Nordmann, a medium-sized businessman from North Rhine-Westphalia and major AfD donor. In response to questions from the editorial team, he then wrote that he had not donated 5,000 euros and did not feel compelled to do so.
Mörig names more names. Alexander von Bismarck, descendant of the former Reich Chancellor, is sitting in the room.
Mörig, the former “federal leader”, is very open about names. He brags about who has already transferred a “high four-digit sum as a donation” or is still going to do so. So far the donations have been made through the private account of his brother-in-law, a banker. He now asked him to think of something else.
He says that some people in this area would be more comfortable handing an envelope over to his wife. Apparently he wants to organize the donations even more professionally and announces that “next time they will probably have an unregistered association” through which transfers can be made. Act 3, Scene 2: An AfD politician advertises for a direct donation of millions
The AfD politician Ulrich Siegmund, parliamentary group leader from Saxony-Anhalt, also apparently needs money. Siegmund openly solicits donations at the meeting: He is already thinking about the elections and the election advertising that he would like to send out, preferably directly into the mailboxes.
Siegmund says he would like everyone to be written to at least once. Classic radio and television advertising is needed. But he also wants more: he needs 1.37 million euros – “in addition to what is provided by the party”. This could also represent an attempt to funnel money directly to him bypassing the party coffers - as a direct donation this would not necessarily be illegal.
Party donations are “of course by far the cleanest thing,” says Siegmund. “Nevertheless,” there are “absolutely legal ways to make donations.” He makes a suggestion to go through “agencies” and “personnel stories.” His request: to discuss something like this in a one-on-one conversation “in order to find the best path individually.” Act 3, Scene 3: Alice Weidel’s right hand
The fact that parts of the AfD are closely networked with neo-Nazis and the New Right is nothing new. So far, however, the party has blamed the problem on individual local or state associations.
A representative of the highest level of the party is also present at the secret meeting in the hotel: Roland Hartwig, former AfD MP and personal assistant to AfD leader Alice Weidel - and, according to several AfD insiders in the Bundestag, a kind of “unofficial general secretary of the party Political party”. Someone who has influence in the background on the highest decision-making levels of the party.
In front of the guests, Hartwig confessed to being a fan of the new-right activist Sellner, whose book he was reading “with great pleasure.” He also refers to the “master plan” previously discussed and referred to by Mörig. Hartwig then goes on to say that the AfD is currently planning a model lawsuit against public broadcasting and a campaign that will show how luxuriously equipped the stations are.
The project that Mörig’s son presented at the meeting should also be seen in the context of Sellner’s lecture: Arne Friedrich Mörig wants to set up an agency for right-wing influencers. Hartwig holds out the prospect that the AfD could co-finance the agency. According to Hartwig, the goal is to influence the elections, especially among young people: “The generation that has to turn the tide is there.” This plan aims to have young people on platforms like TikTok or YouTube with the content are played that are intended to be perceived as normal political theses.
The next step in this project, says Hartwig, will now be to present the project to the federal executive board and convince the party that it will also benefit from it.
Hartwig says a crucial sentence: “The new federal executive board, which has now been in office for a year and a half, is open to this question. So we are ready to put our money where our mouth is and Them
to carry out activities that do not directly benefit only the party.”
One gets the impression that Hartwig, Alice Weidel’s right-hand man, is acting as an intermediary to the AfD’s federal executive committee - in order to convey the plans of this meeting to the party. Hartwig did not respond to our questions later asked about the meeting by press time. epilogue
The evening after, everything is quiet. The hotel looks deserted. Only a slight flickering of the television comes from the junior suite.
What remains are:
A right-wing extremist dentist who exposed his conspiratorial network; a meeting of radical right-wing extremists with representatives of the federal AfD; a “master plan” to expel German citizens based on their “ethnicity”; i.e. a plan to undermine Articles 3, 6 and 21 of the Basic Law. The disclosure of several potential right-wing extremist donors from the upper middle class; a constitutional lawyer who describes legal methods to systematically cast doubt on democratic elections; a state parliamentary group leader of the AfD who wants to organize election donations bypassing the party; and a hotel owner who was able to make some money to cover his costs.