Jews in the AfD

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Logo of the Jews in the AfD

Jews in the AfD (JAfD), also known as the Jüdische Bundesvereinigung in the AfD , is a party-affiliated political association that was founded on October 7, 2018 by Jewish members of the Alternative for Germany (AfD). The founding of the JAfD was sharply criticized by the Central Council of Jews and other Jewish associations.

Establishment and internal party discussion

The association was founded on October 7, 2018 by 24 Jewish AfD members in Wiesbaden-Erbenheim , 19 of whom were present. The association is based in Berlin. The first chairwoman of the JAfD was the doctor Vera Kosova , spokeswoman for the board of the AfD district association Esslingen , who ran for the Bundestag in the constituency of Nürtingen in 2017 . Wolfgang Fuhl , AfD district chairman in Lörrach and former chairman of the upper council of the Israelite religious community in Baden , and Artur Abramovych (district association Bamberg) became deputy chairmen. Even Dimitri Schulz and Emanuel Bernhard Krauskopf , on its idea to form the association declined, was among the founding members.

The JAfD's declaration of principle names the “uncontrolled mass immigration” of young men from the Islamic culture with “an anti-Semitic socialization” and the “destruction of the traditional, monogamous family” through gender mainstreaming and early sexualization as the main motives for the establishment . Israel is only mentioned in connection with a threat from radical Islam . AfD members who “ ethnically belonged to Judaism ” and “consciously” or who converted to Judaism could be accepted into the JAfD . At the end of the founding event , Max Bruch's composition Kol Nidrei was performed and dedicated to the murdered Susanna F.

The AfD federal executive welcomed the establishment of the group. Federal Chairman Jörg Meuthen praised the “courage” of the Jewish initiators in a greeting. The Bundestag member Petr Bystron spoke of "historical importance", member of the federal board and spokesman for Christians in the AfD (ChrAfD) Joachim Kuhs of "a real stroke of luck" for the party, which had stolen the "toys of Nazi clubs" from the opposing parties.

Criticism came from the non-attached AfD member of the state parliament Wolfgang Gedeon from Baden-Württemberg , who had already attracted attention several times in the past through anti-Semitic comments : the founding of more and more interest groups was a “strategic error” and provoked an increasing “atomization” of the party, which would bring about “specifically religious associations” in politics there is also the risk of a conflict of interests between state, party and religion. At best he called the founding "superfluous as a goiter, in the worst case [...] a Zionist lobby organization that runs contrary to the interests of Germany and the Germans". The AfD member of the Baden-Württemberg state parliament, Stefan Räpple , “fully” supported Gedeon's statements and stated that he “always rejects new particular interests ” in the AfD and a “Zionist ideology, ie the enforcement of Israeli interests on German soil”.

State chairman Marc Jongen distanced himself from Gedeon's statements and announced that he would again examine his exclusion from the party. Gedeon is "out of place in the AfD" and isolated with his view of the world, his exclusion has so far only "failed due to the high legal hurdles". He very much welcomed the founding of the JAfD, it was “absolutely logical” and the AfD was the only party that promised to “take effective measures against the growing anti-Semitism in Germany due to Muslim mass immigration”. The second state chairman Ralf Özkara made a similar statement . Even the co-chair of the AfD parliamentary group in the Bundestag, Alice Weidel , said that after Gedeon's recent attacks on the JAfD, it was “about time he was finally thrown out of the party”. On October 15, the AfD federal executive board decided to apply for Gedeon's exclusion again.

Reactions and criticism

The publicist Micha Brumlik , who was the first to draw attention to the intended establishment, wrote that the Jews in the AfD had “far-right predecessor organizations” in the Weimar Republic , and named the Association of National German Jews founded by Max Naumann in 1921 .

The chairman of the Central Council of Jews in Germany (ZdJ) Josef Schuster stated: “Of course, Jews don't just make smart decisions.” In a statement by the ZdJ and 46 other organizations under the title “No alternative for Jews - joint declaration against the AfD” distanced themselves this - also with reference to the joint approach and appearance of AfD functionaries with right-wing extremists and neo-Nazis in the violent Chemnitz protests - from the Jewish association within the AfD. This is an anti-Semitic and right-wing radical party, in which relativization up to the denial of the Shoah has a home. More than 40 associations joined the declaration, including the General Rabbinical Conference Germany and the Jewish sports association Makkabi Germany . The former president of the Central Council Charlotte Knobloch warned: “The AfD is doing something to present itself as Jewish-friendly, which it is not.” This reminds her of the time before the NSDAP came to power in the late 1920s. In Frankfurt, after a call by the Jewish Student Union of Germany , protests against the new grouping with around 250 participants, including representatives of Jewish organizations in Germany, broke out.

Non-Jewish members of the Bundestag from all other parliamentary groups joined the warnings of Jewish representatives against the AfD or expressed their incomprehension with regard to Jewish AfD members. Two days after the association was founded, the Prime Minister of Baden-Württemberg, Winfried Kretschmann, described it as "highly irritating". The chairman of the FDP / DVP parliamentary group in the Baden-Württemberg state parliament, Hans-Ulrich Rülke, said that the JAfD was “like founding a swimming club in the sewer system”. According to Barbara Traub , chairwoman of the Israelite Religious Community of Württemberg , only two members of the JAfD are actually Jews.

The JAfD co-founder Wolfgang Fuhl, himself a former member of the Central Council of Jews in Germany , countered that the Jewish associations had voluntarily submitted to the " Merkel policy". Merkel had achieved with her policy to divide the Jews in Germany. The religious-political spokesman for the AfD parliamentary group in the Bundestag, Volker Münz , declared that it was against democracy if organizations wanted to prescribe which party Jews could join.

In an interview with the MDR , the historian and publicist Michael Wolffsohn analyzed reasons why the AfD was an option for some Jews in Germany. The party addresses Jews who feel abandoned by other parties in terms of their physical security. The Central Council only represents about half of the German Jews. Even if not all Muslims are of course potential murderers of Jews, most attacks against Jews in Germany and other countries are carried out by Muslims. Jews in Germany have different opinions on the migration issue and also with regard to the AfD, "because anti-Semitism in the AfD is not that clear." There are also Israel- and Jew-friendly groups there, but also clearly anti-Semitic. Nonetheless, Wolffsohn felt that he was misquoted by giving the false impression that he (Wolffsohn) welcomed the membership of Jews in the AfD.

Ricarda Breyton wrote in the world , one of the founding parties , the Wiesbaden city councilor Dimitri Schulz , described himself on his Facebook page as “ true to the Bible ” and “Follower of Jesus Christ” and in his application speech for the state list of the Hessian state election 2018 the crimes of Germans in World War II relativized by calling for a “memory of atrocities against the German people”. Schulz had called for a “ genocide against the Germans in the Soviet Union” to be commemorated, in which “before the Second World War [...] hundreds of thousands of Germans in gulags and extermination camps” were killed because of their “being German”. According to Schulz, the “positive aspects [of] German history” outweigh “by far everything negative”. In the Süddeutsche Zeitung , Ronen Steinke interpreted the establishment as a staging of the AfD leadership and commented that the AfD was only apparently trying to attract Jewish voters. While their share of eligible voters is low, the founding is more likely to appeal to potential non-Jewish right-wing voters. Jews would “only play the role of useful idiots in this game ”. According to political scientist Gideon Botsch , the JAfD is a "show". There are "very few, without any notable anchoring in the Jewish communities".

After the attack on a synagogue in Halle (Saale) in October 2019 on the Jewish holiday of Yom Kippur , the JAfD wrote about a picture that Chancellor Angela Merkel showed in silent mourning in front of the New Synagogue in Berlin on the evening of the attack: “Federal Chancellor Dr. Angela Merkel and her PoC fanboys and girls have only been waiting to finally be able to stage themselves as the protector of the Jews again. It was time again after all the Islamic attacks of the last few weeks and months. "Ferdinand Otto commented at the time :" You can put into perspective the impression of sympathy that leading AfD politicians wanted so much to convey. "

Publications

  • Vera Kosova (Hrsg.), Wolfgang Fuhl (Hrsg.), Artur Abramovych (Hrsg.): What drives Jews to the AfD. New Judaism and New Conservatism. Jewish voices from Germany . Gerhard Hess Verlag, Bad Schussenried 2019, ISBN 978-3-87336-656-5 .

literature

Web links

See also

Individual evidence

  1. ^ A b Jews in the AfD: Jewish AfD members found an association . In: Zeit Online . ( zeit.de [accessed October 7, 2018]).
  2. ↑ Alternative for Germany - Baden-Württemberg: The board. Retrieved October 8, 2018 .
  3. ^ Deutsche Welle (www.dw.com): Jews form in the AfD | DW | 07.10.2018. Retrieved October 7, 2018 .
  4. ↑ Kai Müller: Controversial grouping: What drives the "Jews in the AfD" , Tagesspiegel, October 19, 2019.
  5. ↑ mdr.de: Jewish AfD members found a controversial association | MDR.DE . ( mdr.de [accessed October 7, 2018]).
  6. ↑ a b c Ricarda Breyton: New grouping: "Jews in the AFD" - party speaks of historical significance. WeltN24, October 8, 2018
  7. ↑ Orit Arfa : Jewish supporters of Germany's far-right AfD see party as means to counter anti-Semitism , Jewish News Syndicate , October 9, 2018
  8. ^ A b Matthias Kamann, Ricarda Breyton: AfD politician Gedeon: “In the worst case a Zionist lobby organization” www.welt.de, October 8, 2018
  9. ↑ Matthias Schiermeyer: The Kippa finds its way into the AfD , Stuttgarter Nachrichten, September 25, 2018.
  10. ↑ Alice Weidel wants to throw Wolfgang Gedeon out of AfD , Zeit online, October 14, 2018.
  11. ↑ DPA: AfD-head: New party exclusion procedure against Gedeon , Badische Latest Nachrichten , October 15, 2018
  12. ↑ Micha Brumlik: Shame and Farce. www.taz.de, September 4, 2018
  13. ↑ Central Council of Jews: No understanding for the commitment of Jews to AfD, Passauer Neue Presse , September 27, 2018
  14. ^ Josef Schuster: Concern for growing anti-Semitism , Bayerischer Rundfunk , November 24, 2018
  15. ↑ Central Council of Jews in Germany a. a .: "No alternative for Jews - joint declaration against the AfD . October 5, 2018 ( centralratderjuden.de [PDF; accessed on October 9, 2018]).
  16. ^ "In large parts right-wing extremists": Jews protest against Jewish unification in the AfD . In: Spiegel Online . October 7, 2018 ( spiegel.de [accessed October 7, 2018]).
  17. ↑ a b Jews in the AfD defend themselves against allegations. www.faz.net, October 7, 2018
  18. ↑ a b Charlotte Knobloch warns of the association “Jews in the AfD” . In: Huffington Post . October 8, 2018 ( huffingtonpost.de [accessed October 8, 2018]).
  19. ↑ WORLD: "JAfD": Jews found association in AfD - hundreds demonstrate against it . In: The world . October 7, 2018 ( welt.de [accessed October 7, 2018]).
  20. ^ Jewish AfD members found controversial association . In: Handelsblatt . October 7, 2018 ( handelsblatt.com [accessed October 9, 2018]).
  21. ^ Gregor Mayntz: Warnings in front of the platform "Jews in the AfD" , Rheinische Post , September 26th. 2018
  22. ↑ “Jews in AfD are completely incomprehensible to me” , Stuttgarter Nachrichten , October 9, 2018
  23. ↑ Michael Abschlag: Anti-Semitism - Creeping Poison, Rhein-Neckar-Zeitung , October 23, 2018
  24. ↑ Treife Alternative in: Jüdische Allgemeine , October 11, 2018
  25. ^ MDR : Analysis by historian Wolffsohn: AfD can also reach Jews. , archived from the original on October 15, 2018, retrieved on August 28, 2020.
  26. ↑ Jüdische Allgemeine MDR apologizes to Michael Wolffsohn , accessed on August 28, 2020
  27. ^ MDR: Analysis by historian Wolffsohn with a note from the editors, accessed on August 28, 2020.
  28. ↑ Dimitri Schulz is running in 14th place on the state list of the AfD for the state election in Hesse in 2018
  29. ↑ Sascha Schmidt: It threatens a harsh wind , the rights Rand No. 174, September / October 2018th
  30. ^ Ronen Steinke: Alibi Jews in the AfD. www.sueddeutsche.de, October 7, 2018
  31. ↑ Political scientist about AfD: "One expects the day X" www.taz.de, April 3, 2019
  32. ↑ Reactions to Halle: Politicians struggle for words, the AfD with decency. www.zeit.de, October 10, 2019