In Germany, the far-right Alternative für Deutschland (AfD) party remains in crisis following the actions of one of its members. After the demonstration organized by the political party in Berlin on Sunday against the country’s energy policy, one of its members, Holger Winterstein, was photographed, smiling and with open arms, in one of the stelae of the Memorial to the Murdered Jews. of Europe, in the German capital.
“The the spirit of the age (intellectual doctrine of an era, in German) is only a passing phenomenon,” Holger Winterstein writes in the caption. A thinly veiled critique of Germany’s commemorative policy, which seeks to acknowledge the shameful moments of its past.
The spread of this photo, massively spread on social networks, caused a lot of reaction. Many voices were raised to denounce the gesture of the elected AfD. German Health Minister Karl Lauterbach reacted on Twitter: “It’s disgusting. It’s sad, especially for Parliament.”
“Your name will soon be forgotten”
The Israeli ambassador in Berlin, Ron Prosor, for his part, considered that Holger Winterstein, elected locally in the state of Thuringia, was “embarrassing himself and his party”.
“Enjoy your few minutes of embarrassing fame, because your name will soon be forgotten. The holy souls commemorated in this memorial will never be forgotten,” the diplomat continued.
Contacted by the German media MDR, Holger Winterstein admitted that taking this photo was “extremely stupid of him”, but assured that the scandal it had caused was actually just a strategy to attack his party, the AfD. He resigned on Wednesday as deputy chairman of the Sonneberg regional association.
The far-right party, for its part, assured that sanctions will be taken against the elected official and his “extremely disrespectful attitude.” Björn Höcke, one of the leading AfD figures in Thuringia, had already declared in 2016 that the Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe was a “monument of shame”.
Source: BFM TV
