Post by Admin on Feb 2, 2024 14:28:00 GMT
The right-wing movement has been able to establish fixed structures here more or less unchallenged for years. And the populist far-right populist Alternative for Germany party (AfD) enjoys a lot of support in Saalfeld. As it does in Thuringia as a whole, where opinion polls show it may become the strongest party in this autumn's regional election.
But a report published on January 10 on a clandestine meeting of neo-Nazis and a few members of the AfD sparked unprecedented nationwide protests which reverberate in this region as well. The publication Correctiv reported that the participants discussed plans for the expulsion of migrants and even German nationals if they are from immigrant families.
Since then, protests in Germany against the far right aren't letting up. The number of participants is in the millions. It's palpable on the streets: something has been brewing in mainstream German society while the AfD appeared to see an unstoppable rise in voter support. This is despite constant racist provocations and ties to far-right and even neo-Nazi circles.
"All these demonstrations that have been happening all over the country have made us think that we need to stand up here in Saalfeld and Rudolstadt as well, that we definitely need to take a stand against the AfD and this shift to the right," says Katharina Fritz whose lives in the district of Saalfeld Rudolstadt. She is active in the youth organization of the socialist Left Party. Now, together with other youth associations, she is organizing the protest against right-wing extremism and the AfD in Saalfeld.
Neo-Nazi networks have a long tradition here. "Young people sometimes openly give me the Hitler salute," Katharina Fritz says.
In the mid-1990s, neo-Nazis gathered here to glorify the Nazi dictator Adolf Hitler and formed what became known as the "Thuringia Homeland Defense."
Years later, this group made headlines worldwide when three of its members formed the"National Socialist Underground" (NSU) which perpetrated murders, bombings, and robberies throughout Germany from 1999 to 2007. Ten people died. The terrorists were motivated by racism. They had a large network of supporters and sympathizers. And still do today, also in Saalfeld.
But a report published on January 10 on a clandestine meeting of neo-Nazis and a few members of the AfD sparked unprecedented nationwide protests which reverberate in this region as well. The publication Correctiv reported that the participants discussed plans for the expulsion of migrants and even German nationals if they are from immigrant families.
Since then, protests in Germany against the far right aren't letting up. The number of participants is in the millions. It's palpable on the streets: something has been brewing in mainstream German society while the AfD appeared to see an unstoppable rise in voter support. This is despite constant racist provocations and ties to far-right and even neo-Nazi circles.
"All these demonstrations that have been happening all over the country have made us think that we need to stand up here in Saalfeld and Rudolstadt as well, that we definitely need to take a stand against the AfD and this shift to the right," says Katharina Fritz whose lives in the district of Saalfeld Rudolstadt. She is active in the youth organization of the socialist Left Party. Now, together with other youth associations, she is organizing the protest against right-wing extremism and the AfD in Saalfeld.
Neo-Nazi networks have a long tradition here. "Young people sometimes openly give me the Hitler salute," Katharina Fritz says.
In the mid-1990s, neo-Nazis gathered here to glorify the Nazi dictator Adolf Hitler and formed what became known as the "Thuringia Homeland Defense."
Years later, this group made headlines worldwide when three of its members formed the"National Socialist Underground" (NSU) which perpetrated murders, bombings, and robberies throughout Germany from 1999 to 2007. Ten people died. The terrorists were motivated by racism. They had a large network of supporters and sympathizers. And still do today, also in Saalfeld.