Germany deems part of far-right party ‘extremist’
Radical faction of AfD known as ‘The Wing’ placed under surveillance
BERLIN—German authorities are formally placing parts of the far-right Alternative for Germany party under surveillance after classifying it as extremist, the country’s domestic intelligence agency said Thursday.
Thomas Haldenwang, head of the BfV intelligence agency, said that after more than a year of examinations his office has concluded that a radical faction within Alternative for Germany, known as “The Wing,” meets the definition of a “rightwing extremist movement.”
“This is a warning to all enemies of democracy,” Haldenwang said, noting that it was his agency’s duty to prevent growing far-right extremism from overthrowing the country’s democratic order the way the Nazis did in the 1930s.
Alternative for Germany immediately criticized the move, which allows authorities to use covert methods to observe The Wing and its estimated 7,000 supporters. They make up about 20 per cent of the party’s overall membership but hold significant sway over its direction, according to former party members, including its onetime leader Frauke Petry.
The Wing is led by AfD’s regional chiefs in the eastern states of Thuringia and Brandenburg, Bjoern Hoecke and Andreas Kalbitz. Haldenwang described Hoecke and Kalbitz as “rightwing extremists,” noting Hoecke’s historical revisionism, his anti-Islam and anti-immigrant rhetoric and his close ties to other known extremists outside of the party. Hoecke has described Berlin’s memorial to the victims of the Nazi Holocaust a “monument of shame” and called for a “180-degree turn” in the way Germany remembers its Nazi past.
“We mustn’t just keep an eye on violent extremists, but also watch those who use words to spark fires,” said Haldenwang, adding that anti-Semitism, hatred of Islam and racism spread online or in political arenas provides the “breeding ground” for violence.
Germany has been shaken by a series of far-right killings over the past year, including the slaying of a regional politician from Chancellor Angela Merkel’s party, the attack on a synagogue in Halle and a deadly mass shooting targeting people with migrant backgrounds in Hanau.