Brandenburg’s Minister of the Interior Michael Stübgen (CDU) expresses surprise at the reports of the Potsdam Rechtsfront meeting. Such action is dangerous, but not new.
Brandenburg’s Minister of the Interior Michael Stübgen (CDU) spoke for the first time on Friday in Potsdam about the Rechtsfront meeting in a Potsdam villa. He expressed surprise at the public debate surrounding extremists on the right and the AfD. He stated, “I cannot conceal a certain surprise at the apparent astonishment of some reporters,” said Stübgen.
“Right-wing extremists in advance of the AfD have been dreaming and openly advocating for a great remigration for quite some time,” said the Minister of the Interior. “They write essays and books about it. They appear at events and promote their idea. And what they call remigration actually means deportation,” explained the CDU politician. “First the deportation of those who come from elsewhere, then the deportation of those who look different, and finally the deportation of those who think, live, and feel differently.” This is the essence of right-wing extremist thinking and aspirations.
At a meeting in the Potsdam villa at the end of November, the former leader of the Identitarian Movement in Austria, Martin Sellner, spoke about “remigration.” The focus was on having more foreigners leave Germany and how people with an immigration background could be pressured to assimilate. The attendees included several AfD politicians and at least one CDU member.
- “Meetings of right-wing extremists, where networking and discussions of such plans take place, are happening. This is dangerous, but not new.” Michael Stübgen (CDU), Minister of the Interior of the state of Brandenburg
The guests included the AfD member of the Bundestag and current speaker for party leader Alice Weidel, Roland Hartwig, the AfD parliamentary group leader in the Saxony-Anhalt state parliament, Ulrich Siegmund, and the member of the Bundestag, Gerrit Huy.
“We have been warning against these activities for years, you can read about it in every report from the domestic intelligence service,” said Minister of the Interior Stübgen after symbolically taking over the chair of the Conference of the Interior Ministers from Berlin’s Senator of the Interior, Iris Spranger (SPD), on Friday. “Meetings of right-wing extremists, where networking and discussions of such plans take place, are happening. This is dangerous, but not new.”
Those who associate with such people and support their plans make themselves right-wing extremists. “This is a crucial point in our decision to classify the AfD as an object of observation, its parliamentary group leader as a proven right-wing extremist, and its youth organization as proven right-wing extremist endeavor,” said Stübgen.
By Alexander Fröhlich
