It is a political storm as there are few in Germany. Hubert Aiwanger, vice-president of the Bavarian region, allegedly wrote and distributed an anti-Semitic leaflet when he was in first class during the 1987-1988 school year, according to revelations last week from the newspaper Suddeutsche Zeitung.
His high school, in the small Bavarian town of Mallersdorf-Pfaffenberg, was then participating in a national memory competition. Hubert Aiwanger, 17, is said to have invented his own competition, rewarding “the biggest traitor to the fatherland”. Reproduced by the Suddeutsche Zeitung, this pamphlet invites candidates to meet for a “job interview in Dachau”, a city known for its Nazi concentration camp. To be won, a macabre series of prizes referring to the Shoah: “a free flight in the chimney of Auschwitz”, “a lifelong stay in a mass grave”, “a one-year stay in Dachau” or even ” a ticket to the eternal hunting grounds”, i.e. “Auschwitz’s entertainment district.”
Calls for resignation
Today, Hubert Aiwanger is an influential politician. Number 2 in the Bavarian government, in charge of the economy, he is also the leader of the Free Voters party, a right-wing organization with strong local roots and an essential component of the ruling coalition. Before these revelations were published, the elected official denied the facts to the newspaper and denounced a “smear campaign”, a few weeks before the regional elections in Bavaria, for which he is given second position. But the accusations of Suddeutsche Zeitung are supported by several witnesses of the time, who remember the pamphlet and affirm that the school had found Hubert Aiwanger guilty because copies of the leaflet had been found in his satchel. A disciplinary council had reprimanded and punished him by making him give a presentation on the Third Reich.
Saturday, August 26, the politician ends up acknowledging that he had copies of the document in his possession, but still denies being the author and says he no longer remembers if he distributed it. In the evening, it is his brother who speaks and claims to have written it. The mystery deepens and many questions remain unanswered. Since Saturday, radio silence. A surprising choice according to the Suddeutsche Zeitung, who emphasizes that “it’s not like Hubert Aiwanger to remain silent when criticized”. Indeed, he has rather stood out for his incisive speeches against immigration or the “silent majority” which must “take back” democracy. Even if he has never publicly made anti-Semitic remarks.
The opposition calls for the resignation of the elected. “It is inconceivable to me that Markus Söder [le président de la Bavière, du parti chrétien-social] continue to cooperate and covenant with someone who has confirmed possession and cannot deny distribution” of this tract, hammers the leader of the Bavarian Social Democratic Party. But since he asked his number 2 to “clarify things publicly”, Markus Söder has not spoken on the subject. The case takes on a national dimension. “Whoever makes fun of the victims of Auschwitz should not have responsibilities in our country”, wrote Interior Minister Nancy Faeser on X (ex-Twitter). The government delegate in charge of the fight against anti-Semitism, Felix Klein, also considered it unacceptable that Hubert Aiwanger retain his functions if the accusations were proven.
Explosion of anti-Semitism
This scandal goes beyond political considerations. It is a huge stone in the pond, while German society is experiencing a strong rise in anti-Semitism. For several years, the number of crimes targeting Jews has increased significantly in Germany, from 1,800 in 2018 to more than 3,000 in 2021, according to the Ministry of the Interior. Although it fell slightly last year, to 2,641, it remains high, especially since the number of violent acts is on the rise. Shots fired at the synagogue in Essen and a foiled attack on that of Dortmund last November had already shaken Germany. Three years earlier, in 2019, a far-right terrorist killed two people on the street in Halle and then tried to enter a synagogue during a Yom Kippur service.
Most of these attacks come from the extreme right, which is progressing across the Rhine. The Alternative for Germany (AfD) party is gaining ground in the polls. He would come in 2ᵉ position with 23% of the votes in the federal elections, more than double its 2021 score. While the AfD’s program does not include any anti-Semitic references, several of its officials have made remarks relativizing the Holocaust and Nazism. Former party chairman Alexander Gauland, for example, had claimed “the right to be proud of the performance of German soldiers during the Second World War”, and his colleague Bjorn Hocke had called a memorial of Holocaust based in Berlin. A survey by the Allensbach Institute, published in May 2022also estimates that 48% of AfD supporters are convinced that Jews exploit the experiences of the Holocaust to their advantage, ie 14% more than the total population.
The Covid-19 crisis has also been there. Demonstrations against confinement and vaccines have been the scene of anti-Semitic acts, as in August 2020 in Berlin. More than 20,000 people demanded an end to health restrictions, a rally supported by neo-Nazi groups and at which anti-Semitic signs were held up. One of them represented a swastika formed from a mask, a vaccine syringe, a bank card and a CCTV camera.
An anti-Semitic sign held up during a demonstration against Covid-19 health restrictions in Berlin, August 2020.
© / dpa Picture Alliance via AFP
Finally, the Ministry of the Interior and several organizations fighting against anti-Jewish hatred note an increase in Islamist anti-Semitism in Germany. In the first half of 2021, 164 of the 522 antisemitic acts recorded by the Center for Research and Information on Antisemitism (RIAS) had a link with the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, while rocket fire opposed Israel and Hamas in the Gaza Strip. And according to the same survey of the Allensbach InstituteMuslims in Germany are 22% to have a bad image of the Jews, against 6% for the total population.
In 2018, the newly appointed government delegate for the fight against anti-Semitism, Felix Klein, said he wanted to act against this scourge on social networks, encouraging victims to report acts of hate, and strengthening the study of the Holocaust in schools. But the director of RIAS denounces him, a lack of means to carry out this fight. “Five reporting centers supported by regional funds do not even have two full-time positions, and three are planning cuts next year,” said Benjamin Steinitz last June. If we can welcome the many condemnations of Hubert Aiwanger’s leaflet, it seems that the road to a decline in anti-Semitism in Germany is still a long way to go.