Desiderius Erasmus Foundation

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The Desiderius Erasmus Foundation (DES) based in Berlin was founded in 2017. It was named after Desiderius Erasmus of Rotterdam . In 2018 it was recognized as a party-affiliated foundation by the Alternative for Germany (AfD) party . The former CDU politician Erika Steinbach has been chairwoman since March 2018 .

history

The Desiderius Erasmus Foundation was founded on November 15, 2017 in Lübeck and entered in the register of associations there. The establishment was preceded by the conversion of the existing state foundation with the same name, established in 2015, into a federal foundation. The Desiderius Erasmus Foundation, which also exists in Bonn, was founded on March 20, 2015 in Berlin on the premises of the Federal Office of the Alternative for Germany party, initially in the legal form of an association, but is not the legal predecessor of today's nationwide foundation . After the formation of the nationwide association from the Lübeck association, a new state foundation for Schleswig-Holstein, the Desiderius Erasmus Foundation Schleswig-Holstein , was established.

The attitude of the AfD to party foundations in Germany is divided. The chairman of the foundation, Konrad Adam, described party foundations in January 2017 as an "abuse of the Federal Republican democracy".

On December 10, 2016, the Desiderius Erasmus Foundation was finally founded as a foundation in Frankfurt am Main with 34 founding members . Konrad Adam was re-elected chairman. At the beginning of April 2017, however, he was voted out of office because of allegedly unsettled action. He was replaced by Peter Boehringer , who was followed by former CDU politician Erika Steinbach after his election as chairman of the budget committee of the German Bundestag in March 2018 .

Since the beginning of 2018 there has been a controversy in the AfD about which foundation or association should be elevated to the AfD foundation. The right-wing national Gustav Stresemann Foundation competed with the Desiderius Erasmus Foundation from Lübeck for the favor of the party executive. The party and parliamentary group chairman Alexander Gauland endorsed the Gustav Stresemann Foundation, while the parliamentary group chairman Alice Weidel is close to the Desiderius Erasmus Foundation. The Academic Erasmus Foundation , the Johann Gottfried Herder Association for Democracy and the Immanuel Kant Association also advertised themselves.

On April 13, 2018, the AfD's federal executive committee spoke out in favor of recognizing the Desiderius Erasmus Foundation, with the final decision being made at the federal party conference on June 30, 2018. According to WDR and NDR , the foundation wanted to rename itself to Gustav Stresemann at a later date , if this would have been legally possible. However, at the AfD convention on May 6, it was initially decided not to designate any foundation as party-affiliated in the immediate future. The basis for the decision was criticism of party-affiliated foundations themselves.

After months of controversy, the decision in favor of the Desiderius Erasmus Foundation was made at the federal party conference of the AfD on June 30, 2018 in Augsburg. Almost two thirds voted for the foundation headed by the former CDU member of the Bundestag and former President of the Federation of Expellees Erika Steinbach. At the same time, the possibility of renaming it to the Gustav Stresemann Foundation is to be examined.

Further distinctions by name: The Desiderius Erasmus Foundation, which operates nationwide, is not identical to the Academic Erasmus Foundation and the Erasmus Foundation Brandenburg , both of which are also AfD-affiliated, but have a regional focus on Brandenburg and Thuringia. In addition, as a state foundation for Schleswig-Holstein there is a DES (Lübeck), which was founded in 2015. This association goes back largely to Klaus Peter Krause , who was a board member.

Board

The board of the foundation consists of:

Board of Trustees

On March 20, 2018, the Desiderius Erasmus Foundation named the first members of the Board of Trustees ( Board of Trustees ). The board of trustees was expanded in April and June 2018. Currently (as of April 2019) it includes:

Former members of the Board of Trustees

aims

When the association was founded in 2015, it was declared that the foundation wanted to "promote civic education, initiate scientific research, serve international understanding and support the scientific education and training of talented young people".

AfD press spokesman Christian Lüth explained the need to set up a foundation that it could perform tasks that an AfD could not perform. In this way she could develop ideas for education or European policy. “They can also provide impetus for debates within the AfD,” said Lüth in 2015. She wanted to work as a “separate think tank ”.

During his time as chairman of the foundation, Konrad Adam said that he wanted to bring people together in the think tank for the further development of the party. "It should not sharpen the profile of the AfD as much as it should - so that the party finally gets a friendlier appearance," he was quoted by the Berliner Morgenpost in mid-January 2018.

Publications

At the beginning of December 2018, a first monograph in the foundation's “series of publications” appeared in print. Erika Steinbach and Max Otte have published an anthology written by 27 members of the Board of Trustees under the title “Thinking for Germany - How we can secure the future of our country”.

In the spring of 2020, DES published the first issue of its magazine “fact”, it contained articles based on lectures at a congress in 2019 on the subject of “freedom of expression”, including by AfD party leader Jörg Meuthen , communication scientist Norbert Bolz , from AfD member of the Bundestag Marc Jongen , from the former GDR civil rights activist and CDU politician Vera Lengsfeld and from the vice chairman of the foundation, Karlheinz Weißmann .

criticism

After the riots in Chemnitz in August 2018, the Chairman of the Board of Trustees, Max Otte, wrote on Twitter: “Will the incidents of #Chemnitz, presented completely distorted in the media, become the new #Reichstag fire at the start of the official persecution of politically dissenters? #Meinungsterror #Afd #Freedom #Democracy. ”According to Meron Mendel , director of the Anne Frank educational facility , Otte was“ right-wing extremists and neo-Nazis who violently attacked and threatened people of color, migrants and journalists in Chemnitz in recent days have, equal to those persecuted by National Socialism "and serve the" anti-Semitic resentment of the supposedly controlled media that distort the truth. "One initiated by Mendel and supported by numerous scientists, representatives of victim groups and heads of memorial sites (including Reiner Becker , Detlef Garbe , Thomas Lutz , Benjamin Ortmeyer , Miriam Rürup , Stefanie Schüler-Springorum , Jens-Christian Wagner and Mirjam Wenzel ), signed the petition called on the foundation to “disclose its program in the field of historical and political education, dealing with Nazi history and the politics of memory and from to have independent experts checked. ”In the event of a possible how For the election of the AfD to the German Bundestag, the Desiderius Erasmus Foundation will be subsidized from funds from the federal budget from 2022. It should “not be that tax money is used to finance a foundation that promotes an image of history that belittles Nazi crimes,” said the signatories of the petition.

The Jüdische Allgemeine reported on Mendel's words in its online edition. Thereupon Steinbach wrote an open letter to the newspaper: Otte “to assume such a relativization of Jewish fate and the Nazi era” was “completely absurd.” In a press release of September 24, 2018 Steinbach wrote that Mendel was making “defamatory and untrue statements “About the foundation. The allegation he allegedly made that the foundation trivialized Nazi crimes was “character assassination of the worst kind” and “exposed itself” as “pure defamation”, since the foundation had not yet carried out a “remembrance political event”.

financing

The foundation could receive up to 80 million euros per year from state funding for party foundations. When it was founded, the AfD stated that around 450 million euros were available at the federal level.

After an application for funding of 1.4 million euros from the Desiderius Erasmus Foundation had been rejected by the Bundestag in the context of budget discussions, the foundation chairwoman Erika Steinbach announced that they wanted to go to the Federal Constitutional Court . According to the guidelines of a "joint declaration" of the established political foundations from 1998, a minimum requirement for a financial contribution is that the party behind the foundation has "repeatedly" moved into the Bundestag. However, the AfD has only been in the Bundestag for the first time since 2017. On August 19, 2020, the Federal Constitutional Court rejected an application by the AfD for organ dispute proceedings for formal reasons, since such a process is generally not suitable for achieving the procedural goals aimed at by the AfD. At the same time, the court rejected an application by the AfD for an interim order as well as three requests for bias against the judges involved.

See also

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c d The AfD Foundation has Lübeck roots. In: Lübecker Nachrichten online. July 14, 2018, accessed December 29, 2018 .
  2. ↑ Marc Reichwein: Does the AfD Foundation deserve its namesake Erasmus? In: The world . November 12, 2018, accessed December 3, 2019 .
  3. ↑ Imprint - Erasmus Foundation. Retrieved December 29, 2018 .
  4. ↑ How the AfD digs its way into the middle class with its foundation. July 27, 2018, accessed December 29, 2018 .
  5. ^ Preliminary application book for the 9th Federal Party Congress in Augsburg. (PDF) Retrieved December 29, 2018 .
  6. ^ Justus Bender, Markus Wehner, Frankfurt / Berlin: Dispute over AfD Foundation: Steinbach and the matter with the Mossad . In: FAZ.NET . ISSN  0174-4909 ( faz.net [accessed December 29, 2018]).
  7. ^ By Tilman Steffen, Augsburg: Party funding: AfD party convention votes for its own party foundation. Retrieved December 29, 2018 .
  8. ^ Desiderius Erasmus Foundation Schleswig-Holstein eV, Lübeck - company information. Retrieved December 29, 2018 .
  9. ^ Desiderius Erasmus Foundation Schleswig-Holstein e. V. in Lübeck - opening times & address | meinestadt.de. Retrieved December 29, 2018 .
  10. ^ Erasmus von Rotterdam and the AfD. Retrieved January 23, 2018 .
  11. ^ A b Tilman Steffen: Party foundation: AfD wants to donate tax money with a foundation . In: The time . January 6, 2017, ISSN  0044-2070 ( zeit.de [accessed January 23, 2018]).
  12. ↑ AfD-affiliated foundation deposed Adam as chairman , PANORAMA from April 24, 2017, accessed on March 4, 2018.
  13. ↑ Erika Steinbach new chairwoman of the AfD-related foundation. Frankfurter Rundschau , March 4, 2018.
  14. ^ Justus Bender, Markus Wehner, Frankfurt / Berlin: Dispute over AfD Foundation: Steinbach and the matter with the Mossad . In: FAZ.NET . ISSN  0174-4909 ( faz.net [accessed December 29, 2018]).
  15. ^ By Tilman Steffen, Augsburg: Party funding: AfD party convention votes for its own party foundation. Retrieved December 29, 2018 .
  16. ↑ Sebastian Pittelkow, Katja Riedel, Jens Schneider: Planned AfD foundation could attract right-wing patrons . In: sueddeutsche.de . January 12, 2018, ISSN  0174-4917 ( sueddeutsche.de [accessed December 29, 2018]).
  17. ↑ AfD argues about state foundation funds. Retrieved December 29, 2018 .
  18. ↑ By Tilman Steffen: Party Foundation: Stresemann family examines lawsuit against AfD. Retrieved December 29, 2018 .
  19. ↑ Board decision of AfD head wants to recognize Desiderius Erasmus Foundation , Der Spiegel April 13, 2018
  20. ↑ Alternative für Deutschland AfD opts for Desiderius Erasmus Foundation , Zeit online April 13, 2018.
  21. ^ Party-affiliated foundation AfD party leadership opts for Desiderius Erasmus Foundation April 13, 2018.
  22. ↑ taz.de: Foundation millions move into the distance. May 7, 2018. Retrieved May 7, 2018 .
  23. ↑ AfD recognizes Erika Steinbach's foundation as party-affiliated to faz.net. Retrieved June 30, 2018.
  24. ↑ Foundation Association. In: Website of the Desiderius Erasmus Foundation. Retrieved September 9, 2018 .
  25. ↑ Home | Lars Patrick BERG | MPs | European Parliament. Accessed January 30, 2020 .
  26. ↑ Melanie Amann: Right-wing populists: AfD bitterly argues about the foundation . In: Spiegel Online . March 31, 2018 ( spiegel.de [accessed July 29, 2018]).
  27. ↑ Desiderius Erasmus Foundation names first members of the Board of Trustees - Erasmus Foundation. Retrieved April 6, 2018 .
  28. ^ Supplement to the Board of Trustees. Retrieved January 10, 2019 .
  29. ^ Board of Trustees - Erasmus Foundation. Retrieved January 10, 2019 .
  30. ↑ punzmann - Erasmus Foundation. Retrieved September 14, 2019 .
  31. ^ Faculty of Law: Private Lecturers. Retrieved April 18, 2020 .
  32. ↑ Right- wing media: How a gay theologian became the mouthpiece of AfD, IB and Co. In: Belltower.News. Accessed January 31, 2019 .
  33. ↑ David Berger leaves the board of trustees of the AfD-affiliated “Desiderius Erasmus Foundation”. Philosophia perennis from June 29, 2019.
  34. ^ "Intellectually perfumed Nazis" AfD-affiliated foundation opens to right wing extremists , by Matthias Kamann , Annelie Naumann, Die Welt September 24, 2019
  35. ↑ AfD-affiliated foundation: That is why the election of Erik Lehnert causes concern 56 seconds video, Die Welt September 24, 2019
  36. ↑ Voting request for board member Erik Lehnert: Unrest in AfD Foundation , by Sabine am Orde taz May 13, 2020
  37. ↑ IfS managing director Erik Lehnert leaves: Board of AfD Foundation voted out , by Sabine am Orde, taz May 26, 2020
  38. ^ AfD-affiliated foundation separates from board member Lehnert , Volksstimme May 26, 2020
  39. ↑ Recalled Erik Lehnert is the latest personality in the power struggle in the AfD , by Robert D. Meyer Neues Deutschland May 27, 2020
  40. ↑ a b right-wing populists: Lucke critic becomes head of the new AfD foundation . In: Spiegel Online . March 23, 2015 ( spiegel.de [accessed January 23, 2018]).
  41. ^ Leon Scherfig: AfD wants to receive grants with the Desiderius Erasmus Foundation . ( Morgenpost.de [accessed on January 29, 2018]).
  42. ↑ Reading tip: "Thinking for Germany"
  43. ↑ Tweet from September 1, 2018 .
  44. ↑ a b Petition No tax money for historical revisionism!
  45. ↑ Open letter to the weekly newspaper Jüdische Allgemeine , September 10, 2018 .
  46. ↑ Press release on the allegations of the director of the Anne Frank educational institution, September 24, 2018 .
  47. ↑ ZEIT ONLINE: Desiderius Erasmus Foundation: AfD-affiliated foundation wants to enforce state funding by court . In: The time . March 25, 2019, ISSN  0044-2070 ( zeit.de [accessed March 9, 2020]).
  48. ↑ AfD-affiliated foundation remains without grants for the time being. In: sueddeutsche.de . August 19, 2020, accessed on August 19, 2020 .
  49. ↑ AfD application for state subsidies unsuccessful. In: FAZ.net . August 19, 2020, accessed on August 19, 2020 .
  50. ↑ Anja Semmelroch: AfD-affiliated Erasmus Foundation does not receive any grants for the time being. In: augsburger-allgemeine.de. Retrieved August 19, 2020 .