Bavaria’s Deputy Prime Minister Hubert Aiwanger has explained the allegations against himself. Aiwanger again denied authoring an anti-Semitic leaflet found in his school bag 36 years ago. “Statements have been made that give the impression that I took a misanthropic path as a young person. I also made mistakes as a young person. I deeply regret if my behavior has led to the pamphlet in question or other allegations against me hurt feelings when I was young,” Aiwanger read off a piece of paper in front of journalists in the Bavarian Ministry of Economic Affairs.
He then apologized to the victims of the Nazi regime and to “everyone involved in the valuable work of remembrance” – and sees himself as the victim of a political campaign. He again emphasized that he did not write the pamphlet and distanced himself from its content. “I was never an anti-Semite, I was never a misanthrope.” He “can’t remember ever showing a Hitler salute. I didn’t rehearse any Hitler speeches in front of the mirror.” He has the impression that he is the victim of a political campaign. A negative image was drawn of him. The politician closed the statement with the words: “That’s not me, that’s not Hubert Aiwanger.”
A spokesman announced shortly before that Aiwanger would promptly answer the 25 questions from Prime Minister Markus Söder about the case.
See Aiwanger’s full statement here.
Aiwanger’s statement comes two days after a special meeting of the coalition committee in Bavaria, to which Söder Aiwanger and the Free Voters had called. According to Söder in a press statement afterwards, the explanations provided by the Minister of Economic Affairs were not sufficient to fully clarify the matter.
The leaflet was “disgusting and disgusting”, it was “the worst Nazi jargon”, said Söder on Tuesday. It is not “just a silly boy prank or a mere youthful sin”. The mere suspicion would damage Bavaria’s reputation and the personal credibility of the Bavarian Economics Minister.
A dismissal, Söder said on Tuesday, was “excessive” based on the information available so far. Aiwanger must have the opportunity to completely dispel the allegations against him. However, no new allegations should be added.
The BR Magazine “Report Munich” quoted a former classmate of Aiwanger on Tuesday evening, who openly identified himself and said that Aiwanger had “shown a Hitler salute” several times at school, imitated Hitler speeches and made jokes about Jews.
The research around the leaflet
On Saturday, Aiwanger had denied in writing that he had written the leaflet about which the Southgerman newspaper first reported on Friday evening. He considers the content to be “disgusting and inhuman”. However, the Free Voters boss admitted that “one or a few copies” were found in his school bag at the time. He was also punished for it at school. However, that was wrong. The true author of the paper is known to him and will explain himself shortly.
An hour later, Aiwanger’s brother Helmut got in touch and acknowledged himself as the author. To justify the fact that he had written the leaflet, he said in the newspapers of the Bayern media group: “I was totally angry at the time because I had failed at school.”
On Monday, the minister’s brother spoke again. This time it was about Hubert Aiwanger’s behavior at that time. When asked why he had the leaflets in his school bag, Helmut Aiwanger said his brother Hubert might have collected the leaflets again at the time in order to “de-escalate”.
A handwriting report commissioned by the SZ came to the conclusion that Aiwanger’s thesis and the incriminating flyer “were very likely written on one and the same typewriter”.
Before Aiwanger commented on the matter in writing on Saturday, he had always denied being connected to the leaflet in response to multiple inquiries. Until the first publication on Friday, the Southgerman newspaper contacted Aiwanger three times within eleven days. Among other things, the SZ confronted the minister with the find in the school bag and the punishment, based on the memories of several witnesses.
There are also indications that the matter has not just surfaced again after 35 years, but that the leaflet in Aiwanger’s environment has already been an issue twice in the past – well before the SZ publication.
As early as 2008, the year when the Free Voters moved into the Bavarian state parliament for the first time, a member of parliament is said to have scouted out on behalf of Aiwanger whether there was still trouble to be feared from the story. She is said to have visited a former teacher who taught at the Burkhart-Gymnasium Mallersdorf-Pfaffenberg, where the Aiwanger brothers went to school at the time. Neither the deputy nor Aiwanger comment on this. The deputy is said to have recently asked a second time.
The teacher declared in 2008 that he was assuming a “sinful act of youth” and saw no reason to make the disciplinary measure against Hubert Aiwanger public. However, he changed his mind after Aiwanger’s speech against the heating law in Erding in June. At that time, the minister demanded that the “large silent majority” had to “take democracy back”. According to the teacher, this speech persuaded him to no longer remain silent about the events surrounding the leaflet. The man is one of several sources that unanimously confirm the research of the SZ.