AfD meeting: The Potsdam guesthouse and the operator with a right-wing twist

Potsdam
The EU financed it, ARD filmed there: The guesthouse on Lehnitzsee and its operator with a right-wing twist

The hotel would like to make something clear: “Due to the current press releases, we would like to point out that we distance ourselves from the reports contained therein,” writes the hotel Guesthouse on Lehnitzsee in the historic Adlon country house on his homepage. “We are not responsible for the content of our customers’ events and do not know them in advance.”

The luxury hostel in the north of Potsdam hit the national headlines on Tuesday: According to research by “Correctiv”, at the end of November it was the scene of a conspiratorial meeting of several well-known neo-Nazis, wealthy businessmen, influential AfD officials and members of the Union of Values. Something monstrous was discussed in the rooms: a plan for the mass deportation of people from Germany. From foreigners, supporters of refugees, citizens with a migration history, in short: millions of people who do not fit into the racist worldview or ideology of the extreme right (the star reported). The research has reignited the discussion about the AfD’s unconstitutionality and a possible ban procedure.

EU co-financed, ARD shot the series

The flair of the hotel from the Weimar Republic is macabrely consistent with such plans. “The country house combines conservative elements of the neo-baroque with expressionist spatial designs,” says the self-description. “We are bringing the ambience of the 1920s back to Potsdam.” Scenes for the ARD hit series “Babylon Berlin” were filmed in the hotel.

But could it really be that those responsible did not notice which piece was being performed in their rooms at the end of November? One can have considerable doubts about this. The house has long been considered a meeting point for the extreme right. “The entire AfD Brandenburg celebrity was a regular guest here,” the “Tagesspiegel” quoted an insider close to the villa. Accordingly, in recent years, the who’s who of the new right scene has come and gone from the guesthouse on Lehnitzsee, including the face of the Identitarian Movement, Martin Sellner, the pioneer of the Völkische in the AfD, Götz Kubitschek, Jürgen Elsässer, editor of the right-wing extremist “Compact “-Magazine, the former state leader of the Brandenburg AfD, Andreas Kalbitz, and several other politicians from the party. The youth association Junge Alternative is said to have celebrated a summer party in the villa on Lehnitzsee. “Die Zeit” also knows about right-wing extremist meetings in the hotel.

When asked by the “Potsdamer Neuesten Nachrichten”, landlady Mathilda Huss does not want to comment on her alleged guests. “We attach great importance to the privacy of our guests and would like to emphasize that we always strive for discretion,” it says officially on the hotel homepage, a matter of honor in hotels of this category.

Businesswoman Huss bought the property in 2011 together with her then partner Wilhelm Wilderink and then renovated it. Rundfunk Berlin-Brandenburg accompanied the project in the documentary series “My Dream House with History”. The result was noteworthy. The Adlon country house woke up from its sleeping beauty. The couple was able to be celebrated for their work. The state of Brandenburg supported the project with money from the European Regional Development Fund.

In addition to his penchant for feudal real estate, Huss probably has other interests. “Zeit” reported in 2023 that she was “closely networked in the right-wing extremist scene” and had been supporting the Danish neo-Nazi Emil Kirkegaard for years. Several photos show her in a familiar atmosphere with Maximiliam Krah, the AfD’s top candidate for the European elections, who is in the focus of the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution, among other things, because of xenophobic and ethnic-nationalist statements. According to media reports, there are also indications that Huss also wants to turn a second real estate project in Saxony into a meeting point for the right-wing scene. “Die Zeit” continued to research Huss: “She is said to have appeared as a guest on right-wing video channels in recent years – but always hidden and always unrecognizable as a person in the shadows or completely pixelated.” Huss denied the appearances.

Huss’ co-host Wilhelm Wilderink, a local politician from the Potsdam CDU, told the “Märkische Allgemeine Zeitung” after the publication of the “Correctiv” report: “We have a contract for all AfD events and all events by organizations that are classified as unconstitutional “Excluded. That’s what it says in the rental agreement. For example, we rejected a big AfD summer festival.” Furthermore, as an operator you do not have the opportunity to check the guest list in advance when renting. “That’s not common in any hotel.” A private person booked it. Wilderink pointed out that neither managing director Huss nor he, as the owner of the property, were involved in the day-to-day business; two managers ran the hotel.

Potsdam’s mayor alerted after AfD meeting

And Wilderink doesn’t want to have anything to do with the ideas spread at the meeting in November. “I am a member of the CDU district executive committee and am against any form of theses that question human dignity,” the newspaper quoted him as saying. According to Wilderink, he only supports the repatriation of rejected asylum seekers – in line with the current party line of the federal CDU. He couldn’t imagine that the mass expulsion of people from Germany was discussed in his villa on Lehnitzsee. He did not want to comment on his ex-partner’s political views.

Potsdam’s mayor Mike Schubert, however, made it clear. “Meetings, discussions, conferences with the aim of ‘ethnic cleansing’ have already taken place before – not far away,” the SPD politician referred to the house of the Wannsee Conference, less than eight kilometers east of the Adlon country house, where the organization of the Holocaust was discussed in 1942 . “In Potsdam there is no room for conspiratorial network meetings in which anti-democratic, racist ideas are hatched. Potsdam must not and will not be associated with inhumane fantasies of violence.” Schubert announced decisive resistance to anti-constitutional efforts: “We are dealing with enemies of the state who want to plan the overthrow of our country here in our city. We as a city society are opposing this.”

Sources:“corrective”,Guest house on Lehnitzsee in the historic Adlon country house, “Tagesspiegel / Potsdam Latest News”, “Time”, “My dream house with history”, CDU Potsdam, “Märkische Allgemeine Zeitung”