Counter rallies in Kaufbeuren show split between supporters of AfD and locals who acknowledge the Bavarian town’s Nazi past

Counter rallies in Kaufbeuren show split between supporters of AfD and locals who acknowledge the Bavarian town’s Nazi past

Soaring church spires, the 1,000-year-old town centre unblemished by second world war bombing or graffiti, snow-capped Alps in the middle distance – Kaufbeuren, in Bavaria, can count many blessings.

Unemployment is in the low single digits, the Luftwaffe backed away from plans to move its training school for Eurofighter and Tornado jet technicians elsewhere and crime is at a historic low.

However, as voters prepare to elect a new European parliament next month, deep-seated fears have gripped a significant share of the electorate in one of the most affluent pockets of Europe’s top economy and delivered it to the far-right Alternative für Deutschland (AfD).

The bond between the party and its voters appears unshaken even by a cascade of recent scandals. The AfD’s lead candidate for the election, Maximilian Krah, was forced by his party leadership on Wednesday to resign from its board and stop campaigning after he told Italy’s La Repubblica that the SS, the Nazi paramilitary force which ran the death camps, were not all criminals and could only be judged on the basis of “individual guilt”.

  • Flying Squid@lemmy.worldMEnglish
    564·
    7 months ago

    “It’s a catastrophe – the worst government we ever had,” said civil servant Manuela, 55, who was from a neighbouring town and, like most of the AfD supporters, declined to give her surname. She brought her teenage daughter to the rally. Despite the low rates of violent crime, she said her family no longer felt safe on the streets due to “Islamists”.

    Anti-AfD activists booed and whistled from the sidelines as Krah addressed the rally. Manuela said: “They call us Nazis just because we’re patriots. The world laughs at us because no country is as dumb as Germany, with our exaggerated tolerance and diversity. They’ve been telling us for decades we should carry this guilt, and so we should rescue the whole world and be its dole office.”

    Hey Manuela from paragraph two, you should talk to Manuela from paragraph one.

    Also… Manuela. Is that a German name?

    • CitizenKong@lemmy.worldEnglish
      30·
      7 months ago

      Manuela is a very German name, so much so a German rapper actually made a song about it.

      But of course its origin isn’t Germanic at all. Which I doubt people with such convictions care about.

      • Flying Squid@lemmy.worldMEnglish
        22·
        7 months ago

        And there’s a very well-known TV show and filmmaker from Scotland named Armando Ianucci. I wouldn’t say Armando is a Scottish name.

        • atomicorange@lemmy.worldEnglish
          31·
          7 months ago

          Wikipedia says the root is Hebrew. So…. a European name? Seems pretty popular in Germany.

            • atomicorange@lemmy.worldEnglish
              7·
              7 months ago

              If it’s popular in Germany, given by a German parent to a German child and based on a Hebrew root word, I’d argue it’s a German name as much as it is Portuguese, Spanish, or Italian.

              It’s all semantics though, I assumed your original question was about how common the name was in Germany, not about its linguistic roots. It seems fairly common. If you’re looking for a deep dive on the history of the name I’ll let you do your own research because I honestly don’t give a shit and you’re being kind of rude.

  • TIMMAY@lemmy.worldEnglish
    373·
    7 months ago

    If youre a german citizen and you’re far-right , you’re as nazi as it gets

  • Treczoks@lemmy.worldEnglish
    241·
    7 months ago

    Like the recent event in Sylt. You can easily find the Nazi sympathisers wherever the rich gather.

    • chillhelm@lemmy.worldEnglish
      28·
      7 months ago

      Yes. But the state still has to prove that what you did was a) a Nazi thing and b) that you either knew or should have known it was so.

      So if you show the Hitler salute, you’ll be arrested and fined. If you give a speech in which you suggest that immigrants need to learn “the liberating power of work” (referencing the Motto of Auschwitz “Arbeit macht Frei” “Work makes Free”) that is totally fine.

    • suction@lemmy.worldEnglish
      3·
      7 months ago

      The German right wingers usually knew to ride the edge, ie not show illegal symbols or do illegal chants while still making it obvious. But they’re getting more cheeky because of all the encouragement from Russia, Trump, Musk, etc.

    • Linkerbaan@lemmy.worldEnglish
      1012·
      7 months ago

      Saying bad things about israel is super illegal in Germany. Actual antisemitism isn’t.

        • Linkerbaan@lemmy.worldEnglish
          91·
          7 months ago

          Literal NeoNazi parties are rising up while a doctor from Gaza trying to give a lecture gets an EU wide ban. The double standard is clear as day.

  • suction@lemmy.worldEnglish
    101·
    7 months ago

    That guy taking a selfie definitely is a so called “Russo-German”, ie a Russian person with German ancestors. Germany (unfortunately) allowed many of these people to obtain German citizenship with no real background check. Now it turns out that a majority of them love Putin and look down on Western values. These jokers all vote far-right and even drive around with huge “Z” symbols on their 4th hand Audis.

      • suction@lemmy.worldEnglish
        3·
        7 months ago

        …while they enjoy the freedoms and economic opportunities, and in the case of Germany, high-grade social security of those Western countries they hate so much.

  • ParabolicMotion@lemmy.worldEnglish
    1013·
    7 months ago

    As someone who is white, but 0% German, I wonder how things would be if I traveled to Germany and spent some time living in that country. I read another article on Lemmy that said Germans were in a bar, chanting “Germany for the Germans. Foreigners out.” I’ve been called “Nazi” plenty of times on Lemmy because people have disagreed with my views on things like the war in Gaza. I wonder if Germans would think I was just another German there, or if they’d want me to leave.

  • Wanderer@lemm.eeEnglish
    612·
    7 months ago

    The longer all the other parties bury their head in the sand about immigration the more the far right gains votes.

    It’s one of the biggest issues for people in the West but the left like to pretend none of the real negatives exist.

    Would be good to see a left leaning party care about immigration.

  • Eheran@lemmy.worldEnglish
    424·
    7 months ago

    And that is why you do not use things like calling someone a Nazi inflationary. It has the exact opposite effect.