Political situation in Germany

Analysis: The protesters are behaving like it's 1933 

 

The German newspapers are overflowing with analyzes and chronicles after the weekend's large demonstrations against the far right, since it became known that AFD politicians participated in secret meetings where plans for mass deportations were discussed.  

 

What are the protests worth? asks Kevin Hagen in Der Spiegel. He believes that it is the "mastodon task" of the divided government parties to counter the far-right AFD, but that they are busy arguing about child support.  

 

In Focus, Gabor Steinhart is critical of the fact that the social democratic SPD and the Christian democratic CDU have become too "cuddly" with each other. He believes that many of AFD's voters are calling for a clearer opposition.  

 

"These people do not long for Adolf Hitler, but for Helmut Kohl and Helmut Schmidt," he writes. 

  

Jacques Schuster also draws historical parallels. In Die Welt, he writes that the protesters are behaving as if it were 1933 or 1943, which he finds "offensive". 

 

In a morning letter from the business newspaper Handelsblatt, Christian Rickens writes that it is clear that many people dislike AFD, but that the other parties still have to admit why the party is growing. Admitting the downsides of immigration has nothing to do with right-wing extremism, he writes.  

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Top politician on protests: "The Nazi card does not help"  

 

The weekend's giant demonstrations against the far right in Germany are praised by several top politicians, including the federal president, the foreign minister and the interior minister. That's what the Tagesschau writes.  

 

The party leader of the Christian Democratic CDU, Friedrich Merz, agrees. But he also raises a finger of warning against the rhetoric. This weekend, AFD was called a "Nazi party" by a high-ranking local politician, but Merz points out that many of the party's voters are not Nazis.  

 

- If we want to win them back, we must not insult them [...] The Nazi card will get us nowhere, he says.

 

He also urges the protesters to convert their energy into political engagement by joining one of the established parties, writes Der Spiegel.