Disgust over leaked German ‘master plan’ to deport millions of foreigners | Abroad

On Wednesday, Correctiv, a platform for investigative journalism, reported on a secret meeting between right-wing extremists, convicted neo-Nazis and leaders of the AfD, the right-wing radical party is represented with 83 of the 736 seats in the Bundestag. At the end of November they met in a well-known villa in Potsdam, the location of the popular series Babylon Berlin is included. There the group discussed a ‘master plan’ to deport two million people with a non-German background to a ‘model state’ in North Africa. Even volunteers who help refugees should be deported to Africa.

A prominent, but unsavory company. Roland Hartwig, a retired lawyer and the right-hand man of AfD party leader Alice Weidel, Gerrit Huy, a 70-year-old female Bundestag member of the AfD, and two local party chairmen from Potsdam and Saxony-Anhalt. Also at the table were neo-Nazi Mario Müller (35), who works for the AfD faction in the Bundestag, a convicted right-wing extremist from Austria and a member of the youth branch of the AfD.

Also present: a grandnephew of the Prime Minister of Prussia, Otto von Bismarck, a German neurosurgeon and two catering entrepreneurs. According to newspaper Welt German Christian Democrats, affiliated with the party of former Chancellor Angela Merkel, were also present. Finally, supporters of the Values ​​Union were among the group. This is an ultra-conservative movement, founded by the denounced CDU member Hans Georg Maassen. Maassen led the German secret service until the end of 2018.

The Federal Government speaks with disgust. “The AfD is the parliamentary mouthpiece of this right-wing extremist network in Germany. It must be fought by all democratic parties,” SPD party leader Saskia Esken responded. “The AfD is showing its true face,” said the FDP faction. Opposition parties CDU and Die Linke reacted with concern. In addition, trade associations from the German business community made themselves heard. “These themes, which evoke memories of Germany’s darkest history, are deeply alarming,” the chairman of an SME association told Handelsblatt. The popular hamburger chain Hans im Glück has now said goodbye to one of its co-founders, who was present at the meeting.”

The secret meeting took place a stone’s throw from the Haus der Wannsee-Konferenz, the villa where the German National Socialists discussed the destruction of the Jewish people in Europe in 1942. Six million Jews were ultimately murdered during World War II. Now it concerns entire population groups: refugees, foreigners and Germans with a migration background. The leaked deportation plan opens up many old scars in Germany. “Anyone who opposes our democratic constitutional state is a case for our secret service and the judiciary. The fact that we learn from history is not just about watching. We must make a joint effort in our democracy,” writes SPD Chancellor Olaf Scholz on X.

There were already calls for a ban on the party. The AfD is already under the supervision of the German security service in three areas in Germany. This means that extreme right-wing figures within the party are closely monitored. The neo-Nazi meeting in Potsdam has made the call for a ban even louder. “We must make the German population fully aware of the kinds of ideas that are destroying our community and of the fact that they are commonplace in the highest circles of the AfD,” said CDU member Roderich Kiesewetter.

Proponents of a ban are in a race against time. This year, elections will take place in Brandenburg, Thuringia and Saxony – in these eastern German states the AfD is at the top of the polls. In the meantime, the AfD is not deviating from its controversial migration policy, a spokesperson for party leader Weidel reports on X.