Bavaria’s Prime Minister Markus Söder (CSU) reacted publicly to the allegations against his deputy Hubert Aiwanger (FW) for the first time on Saturday afternoon in Augsburg. “These are serious allegations that are being made,” said Söder before the start of the parade to the Plärrer in Augsburg. Aiwanger was also originally announced, but the Economics Minister canceled his participation at short notice.
According to SZ research, Aiwanger is said to have laid out an anti-Semitic leaflet as a student in his high school in Mallersdorf-Pfaffenberg, Lower Bavaria. According to witnesses, he was punished by the Disciplinary Committee as the author of the pamphlet. The incident is said to have happened in the 1987-88 school year and was said to be widely publicized at school.
Aiwanger had the statement firmly rejected by a spokesman; he “didn’t produce anything like this” and would take “legal action including claims for damages against this smear campaign in the event of publication”.
“The leaflet is inhuman, almost disgusting,” said Söder in Augsburg on Saturday. The document calls for an alleged federal competition: “Who is the biggest traitor to the fatherland?” The first prize offered is, for example, “A free flight through the chimney of Auschwitz.”
It must now be clarified whether the allegations are correct, said Söder. According to information from the SZ, the parliamentary group board of the Free Voters met with Aiwanger at the same time on Saturday afternoon. Top representatives of the Free Voters could not initially be reached for comments.
The Bavarian opposition reacted to the allegations on Saturday, and the SPD parliamentary group requested a special session of the state parliament. SPD parliamentary group leader and top candidate Florian von Brunn said: “Horrible appearances like the demonstration in Erding have so far been dismissed as isolated events. But that’s obviously not the case with Hubert Aiwanger. The leaflet is right-wing extremism of the lowest drawer, which the millions of victims of the Holocaust and the Nazi dictatorship in the worst way – in the worst way. It is inconceivable that an author of such lines sits in the Bavarian state parliament or holds a public office in our country for even one day longer.”
Prime Minister Markus Söder must ask himself whether he and the CSU, with partners like Aiwanger’s Free Voters, have not long since formed a coalition with right-wing populists, while the CSU itself posted quotes from Strauss against right-wing radicals.
Brunn referred to Article 45 of the Bavarian Constitution. It says quite simply: The prime minister appoints and dismisses the state ministers and state secretaries with the approval of the state parliament.
Katharina Schulze, the parliamentary group leader of the Greens in the state parliament, and her co-chairman Ludwig Hartmann, also see Söder as having an obligation. “If the allegations are true, there is no way around it: Release Hubert Aiwanger,” Hartmann wrote in a statement. “This leaflet mocks the victims of the Holocaust. The ideas are inhuman. Anyone who thinks, writes and speaks like this clearly shows their anti-Semitism,” Schulze said.
The youth organizations of both parties are also demanding consequences. Aiwanger must resign or – if he doesn’t – be fired by Söder. “After Aiwanger’s speech in Erding, this current SZ research shows whose brainchild Aiwanger is,” says the Green Youth.
The Jusos demand the resignation and the dissolution of the coalition of CSU and Freie Wahlen.
FDP top candidate Martin Hagen writes on social media: “The content of the leaflet shocks me deeply. Hubert Aiwanger has to explain himself personally and clear up the allegations. Anti-Semitism and right-wing extremist ideas have no place in Bavaria.”
The parliamentary director of the AfD in the state parliament, Andreas Winhart, was “shocked” by the text of the leaflet, saying it was “a tough piece”. The resignation is inevitable if the allegations are true. Aiwanger and his free voters “rush” just like Söder’s CSU “against us because of every little statement”, he “works on us and obviously has no clean record himself”. In the AfD, not every wording is always “so chic,” says Winhart, but “that kind of thing doesn’t happen with us.”
AfD country chief Stephan Protschka also says: If Aiwanger wrote these things, it would be “absurd” and the man “no longer bearable”. But he warns against “prejudgement”. From experience of “attacks” against his AfD, he has always called out to the CSU and FW: “The more left-wing society becomes, the more it will be your turn next.”