The President of the Central Council of Jews, Josef Schuster, has agreed to talk to Hubert Aiwanger about his leaflet affair. Aiwanger’s office got in touch to find an appointment, said Schuster New Zurich newspaper further. Schuster expressed skepticism about the question of a possible apology from the Free Voters leader during the conversation.
“I cannot accept an apology for the victims of National Socialism. And then it depends on what he actually wants to apologize for and how credible that is,” he said. Charlotte Knobloch, President of the Jewish community in Munich and Upper Bavaria, had rejected Aiwanger’s apology.
Schuster called it “shocking” that the Free Voters have made gains in surveys after the affair involving their chairman in Bavaria. “Not because of the Free Voters, but because it apparently shows that many people do not understand the discussion we are having here. They see Mr. Aiwanger as a martyr even now.” He also described the Free Voters as a legitimate political force in the conservative spectrum – “more right-wing, but not extreme and not anti-Semitic.”
Aiwanger had denied having written an anti-Semitic leaflet that the SZ had reported on when he was at school. Rather, his brother accused himself of being the author. Prime Minister Markus Söder (CSU) sticks to his deputy and economics minister: A dismissal is “not proportionate”.