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”.

  • TIMMAY@lemmy.world
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    4 months ago

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

  • Flying Squid@lemmy.worldM
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    “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.world
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      4 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.worldM
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        4 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.world
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          4 months ago

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

            • atomicorange@lemmy.world
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              4 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.

  • Treczoks@lemmy.world
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    4 months ago

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

  • suction@lemmy.world
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    4 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.world
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        4 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.

    • chillhelm@lemmy.world
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      4 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.world
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      4 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.world
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      4 months ago

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

      • Todd Bonzalez@lemm.ee
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        4 months ago

        This is not true. All forms of antisemitic speech are prohibited in Germany, and it is enforced.

        Yes, German authorities have been silencing pro-Palestine protesters, and falsely imply that they are being antisemitic. It’s an assault against free speech and human rights.

        No, this does not mean that whatever hyperbolic thing you say about Germany in response must be true.

        • Linkerbaan@lemmy.world
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          4 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.

  • Allero@lemmy.today
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    4 months ago

    To be fair, not all right-wingers are Nazis and it’s not helpful to draw them as equals.

    But right-wingers can and do use Nazis when they are useful to their political goals, which is still to rip us off.

    Not all right-wingers are Nazis. Doesn’t mean they’re not evil.

  • ParabolicMotion@lemmy.world
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    4 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.

    • Head@lemmings.world
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      4 months ago

      Hey I’m a white immigrant in Germany! I was accepted as a waitress in the shooting club events in German villages and also in Karneval tents so it’s possible. But then there’s always one drunk old German suggesting I just moved here for the social systems.

  • Eheran@lemmy.world
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    4 months ago

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

  • Wanderer@lemm.ee
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    4 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.

    • TheUnicornOfPerfidy@feddit.uk
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      4 months ago

      You know that immigration is a net positive for every western nation right? People coming to a country wanting to make a new life contribute to a its society and economy. They also help populations keep growing as birthrates are falling. It would be nice to see these sorts of arguments made more though, if that’s what you mean?

      • Head@lemmings.world
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        4 months ago

        You say that, but have you lived it? I go to anti-AfD protests but I’m still sick of having to walk through neighborhoods where all the women are in headscarves and the teenagers and young men always trying to grope and rob you. There’s an ugly side to immigration that the left does not want to address.