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”.
How is that what I said?
Calling people that want X but do not see themselves (and are not) anywhere near far right Nazis means that the word loses all meaning. “I am a Nazi? I guess all the other people they call Nazis are/were not that bad then”
AFD is trying to make Germany only of pure Aryan bloodline. They literally have a plan to deport anyone not of German ancestry. How are they not Nazi’s?
How many racisms does one have to do before they can be considered “far right” enough to be called a nazi?
Nazi is the most extreme far right possible. Everything else is less crazy. Mildly right people are not Nazis. They can be racist, close minded, whatever.
Absolutely true. However, the lines between proper Nazis and AfD/its sub-organizations is very blurry. Even courts and the secret service for the interior have said so recently. Still, calling people Nazis who support and vote for Nazis and their allies is not quite correct.
wer mit nazis zu tisch geht ist staatsveräter
Sure, but it doesn’t make them nazis
-> ist nazi versteher -> fast so schlimm wie ein nazi sollte eig gleich behandelt werden
Yes, everything is blurry, no question. By blanket calling all of them Nazi the word loses it’s meaning. Those that previously would be like “Nazis are bad” find themselves called just that. That is all I am saying. It does not help.