2023-08-26 13:53:53
Hubert Aiwanger
The “SZ” had reported on a leaflet that should come from Aiwanger’s school days.
(Photo: dpa)
Augsburg, Berlin, Munich, Münster In the midst of the Bavarian state election campaign, Deputy Prime Minister Hubert Aiwanger is facing serious allegations in connection with an anti-Semitic flyer from school days. Prime Minister Markus Söder (CSU) immediately asked his coalition partner for clarification.
“These allegations must now simply be clarified. They have to be cleared out completely, ”said Söder on Saturday on the sidelines of a folk festival in Augsburg. Demands for urgent clarification also came from the federal government.
The “Süddeutsche Zeitung” reported on the flyer, which is said to have appeared more than 30 years ago. Aiwanger is 52 years old today. Through a spokesman, the Free Voters boss told the “SZ” that he “didn’t produce anything like that” and would take legal action against this “smear campaign” if it were published. Söder said of the report: “There are serious allegations in the room. This leaflet is inhuman, downright disgusting.”
Hubert Aiwanger himself has denied the allegations that he wrote an anti-Semitic leaflet as a student. “I did not write the paper in question and I consider the content to be disgusting and inhuman,” the Free Voters chief said in a written statement on Saturday through a spokesman. “I know the author of the paper, he will explain himself.”
Aiwanger was originally supposed to come to the big folk festival parade in Augsburg on Saturday afternoon. But he did not appear there.
State election on October 8th
A new state parliament will be elected in Bavaria on October 8th. The CSU had always stated that it wanted to continue the coalition with the Free Voters after the election. All surveys left almost no doubt that this will also be possible – with the free voters were at 11 to 14 percent. For both coalition partners, the allegations and the public debate are therefore absolutely inopportune. The CSU has governed the Free State since 2018 together with the Free Voters.
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Demands for clarification and, if necessary, consequences came immediately from almost all directions. “Anyone who mocks the victims of Auschwitz must not bear any responsibility in our country. The serious allegations must be clarified urgently,” wrote Federal Interior Minister Nancy Faeser (SPD) on Twitter’s successor X.
The Bavarian state parliament president Ilse Aigner (CSU) posted at X: “The allegations against @HubertAiwanger weigh heavily – only he himself can credibly distance himself from this disgusting, anti-Semitic pamphlet and should do so quickly.” The deputy chairman of the AfD state parliamentary group, Gerd Mannes, called for Aiwanger’s resignation: “As Economics Minister, he will no longer be able to do justice to his task.”
The Bavarian Greens parliamentary group leaders Katharina Schulze and Ludwig Hartmann called for his dismissal if the allegations against Aiwanger were confirmed. “This leaflet mocks the victims of the Holocaust. The mindset is inhuman. Anyone who thinks, writes and speaks in this way shows their anti-Semitism clearly,” said Schulze. For the FDP, state parliamentary group leader Martin Hagen demanded: “Hubert Aiwanger must explain himself personally and clear up the allegations.”
SPD calls for special session of the state parliament
The SPD called for a special session of the state parliament. “The leaflet is right-wing extremism of the lowest drawer, which denigrates the millions of victims of the Holocaust and the Nazi dictatorship in the worst way – in the worst way,” said SPD parliamentary group leader Florian von Brunn.
SPD leader Lars Klingbeil said at a state party conference of the North Rhine-Westphalian SPD: “What kind of people are there in the Bavarian state government?” And added: “Such people are not responsible in this country.” Federal Minister of Justice Marco Buschmann (FDP) wrote on X: “The accusation that someone is an anti-Semite weighs heavily. One should raise it only when one is sure of one’s cause and the evidence is clear. If that is the case, one thing is clear: there is no place for anti-Semites in politics – neither in mandates nor in state offices!”
The presumption of innocence applies to Aiwanger, wrote the deputy CDU federal chairman Karin Prien on X: “The publication of the allegations against @HubertAiwanger and the timing weigh heavily and are explosive in several respects, six weeks before the Bavarian state elections.”
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The federal government’s anti-Semitism commissioner, Felix Klein, told the “Bild am Sonntag”: “Should the allegations be true, Mr. Aiwanger is, in my view, as Deputy Prime Minister of Bavaria and other offices, intolerable.” Christoph Heubner, Executive Vice President of International Auschwitz Committee, demanded: “If Hubert Aiwanger has anything to do with this leaflet, then he must now clean up his story.”
Aiwanger had already hit the headlines nationwide in June because of controversial statements at a rally in Erding. Among other things, he said there that the silent majority had to “take back democracy”. As so often before, he was accused of populism.
Aiwanger, the strong man of the Free Voters in Bavaria and also nationwide, likes to see himself as a representative of what he calls the “normal population”, of farmers and craftsmen. In beer tents and at other appearances, he regularly railed against the Greens and the traffic light government. He lets accusations of being a populist roll off his feet. He will not be silenced, he says. His declared goal is to keep potential AfD voters from voting for the AfD and to “lure” them to the Free Voters.
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