Germany on Alert After Extremist ‘Re-Migration’ Plot Uncovered

Michael Nienaber and Agatha Cantrill
·2 min read
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(Bloomberg) -- Germany’s interior minister warned of the growing threat from extremists after reporters uncovered a meeting attended by members of the far-right AfD party where a “re-migration” concept was discussed that echoed the policies of the Nazis.

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The gathering, at which a close aide of AfD Co-leader Alice Weidel and two members of the main opposition Christian Democrats were present, took place at a hotel near Potsdam in November, according to a report published Wednesday by Correctiv, an Essen-based media organization which seeks to promote democracy.

Discussions included a proposal outlined by an Austrian right-wing extremist for mass deportations of asylum seekers, foreigners with the right to reside in Germany and German citizens who haven’t “assimilated,” Correctiv said, citing documents and information gathered by an undercover reporter.

A spokesman for Weidel said she had no knowledge of the meeting’s content or guest list but confirmed that an aide, Roland Hartwig, had participated. Carsten Linnemann, the CDU’s general secretary, said the party is monitoring the situation “with great concern.”

“The AfD is systematically embarking on a path that would pose a major threat to our country, our freedom and our prosperity,” Linnemann said by email.

“Anyone who is moving in this environment is violating the principles of the CDU,” he added. The two members of the party’s arch-conservative “Werteunion” faction that attended the meeting would potentially face “consequences,” he said.

Responding to the Correctiv report, Nancy Faeser, interior minister in Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s governing alliance, said that “nobody should underestimate this danger.”

Germany’s domestic intelligence services should continue to closely monitor “the right-wing extremist spectrum” and “enemies of the constitution,” she was quoted as saying Wednesday by Stern magazine.

As a robust democracy, Germany will “not tolerate right-wing extremists forging their racist plans of exclusion,” Faeser added.

“These extremists and their nationalist ideology are fundamentally directed against the human dignity of every individual — and thus against the foundation of our democracy.”

--With assistance from Arne Delfs.

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