Outside the lobby, Bettina, a mother of eight, took a drag from her cigarette and said that because of her upbringing in East Germany, she was skeptical of what the state was telling her . (She, like others interviewed in Magdeburg, declined to give her full name for fear of reprisals if she made her opinion public.)
“You should always ask yourself: Who benefits from what’s happening? she said of the accusations surrounding Krah. “If I don’t use my head and question it and let myself be influenced, then I’m as much of a puppet as everyone else.”
One of his friends, a man with a pointed beard tied with a rubber band, then pulled up in a white BMW decorated with political slogans, one of which read: “Financial capitalism threatens the values of civilization.” They said they would both attend a rally the next day, in the square next to Magdeburg’s Gothic cathedral, an event Bettina described as “an issue of sovereignty” where people can “talk about measures against the coronavirus”.
The following day, hundreds of people attended the demonstration, which brought together a wide range of fringe groups, many of whom were protesting NATO and military support for Ukraine. Some demonstrators waved Russian flags, others blue flags with dove motifs.
Local AfD politicians handed out pamphlets under an awning reading: “Take back your country.” Among them was Kirchner, who once again claimed that the current German government was resorting to East German-style repression.
“For domestic intelligence to be involved in the election campaign so they can try to discredit us, infiltrate us and destroy us, I already had that with the Stasi,” he said. This explains why the AfD is particularly strong among residents of the former East Germany, he explained. “They’ve already seen it all.”
One party supporter, a tall man who declined to give his name for “privacy reasons,” agreed with this assessment, saying the investigations – including the one against Krah – were all politically motivated.
“I think it’s a witch hunt,” he said. “They want to defame the AfD.”
Politico
