Some members of Chancellor Angela Merkel’s party Christian Democratic Union CDU have been found to have far-right links.
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Tag: Angela Merkel
German Chancellor Angela Merkel warns of rising intolerance during visit to Auschwitz
German Chancellor Angela Merkel warned of the rising intolerance during her visit to former Auschwitz concentration camp.
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Lessons from Weimar
Germany’s government marked the centenary of the Weimar Republic and Germany’s first democratic constitution, yesterday. At its time, the Weimar Constitution was very liberal and progressive, but it also had some fatal flaws that helped Adolf Hitler to rise to power in 1933. Chancellor Angela Merkel said that “every generation must once again struggle for democracy.” She added that present-day Europe has drawn lessons from Weimar and the “terrible” Nazi era. Stephan Harbarth, the vice-president of Germany’s top court, said:
“The failure of the Weimar Republic must… remind us… to counter those who seek to eliminate freedom and democracy, consistently and at an early stage.” (1)
Germany has had problems with far-right movements and parties during recent years, most notably because of anti-Islam movement PEGIDA and far-right party “Alternative for Germany” AfD. According to some recent polls, AfD has lost some support, but it is still in the fourth place with 12-13 per cent support (2, 3). Internal differences in AfD have lead to birth of far-right splinter groups. Frauke Petry, former co-head of AfD, formed “The Blue Party” (Die blaue Partei) in 2017 (4). André Poggenburg criticized AfD for “shifting to the left” and formed a new group “Awakening of German Patriots” AdP last month (5). The support of the other far-right parties seems to be minimal compared to AfD.
References:
1) “Germany marks 100 years since Weimar Constitution” Deutsche Welle 6.2.2019
https://www.dw.com/en/germany-marks-100-years-since-weimar-constitution/a-47379754
2) “Politbarometer Januar II 2019” Forschungsgruppe.de 25.1.2019
http://www.forschungsgruppe.de/Aktuelles/Politbarometer/
3) “Wenn am nächsten Sonntag Bundestagswahl wäre…” Sonntagsfrage – Forsa 2.2.2019
https://www.wahlrecht.de/umfragen/forsa.htm
4) “Former leader of Germany’s far-right kicks off new ‘Blue Party'” Reuters 12.10.2017
5) “New far-right German party adopts former secret Nazi symbol” The Guardian 11.1.2019
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