In view of the AfD’s success in the polls, East Germany’s highest Catholic dignitaries appealed in an open letter for “responsible” voting.
Six German bishops appealed in an open letter to people not to vote for the AfD in this year’s elections. “We bishops (…) make it very clear that, given our own conscience, we cannot accept the positions of extreme parties such as the Third Way, the Home Party or the AfD,” the “Spiegel” quoted the paper, which is due to be published on Friday.
Under the heading “Standing up for democracy,” the Catholic bishops continue to write that the “topmost guideline” of state action must be to “respect and protect the inviolable dignity of human beings.” The bishops added: “Political parties that question this principle cannot, in our understanding, be an alternative.” According to the report, in the call the bishops explicitly demand: “Choose responsibly.”
Cologne, Berlin, Leipzig
Seven days, more than 100,000 people: Germany-wide protests against the right
The paper entitled “Common Word of the North-East German Bishops” was signed by Archbishops Stefan Heße (Hamburg) and Heiner Koch (Berlin) as well as Bishops Gerhard Feige (Magdeburg), Ulrich Neymeyr (Erfurt), Wolfgang Ipolt (Görlitz) and Heinrich Timmerevers (Dresden-Meißen).
Anti-democratic AfD
The Hamburg Archbishop Heße told the “Spiegel” that the AfD was “anti-democratic” and that its ideas were “ethnic and nationalistic.” For her, the demand for so-called remigration is about the “deportation” of migrants. “There is no intersection between Christianity and the AfD.” Erfurt Bishop Neymeyr emphasized that the aim of the appeal was to “motivate people not to make a voting decision based on their gut.”
The state parliaments will be elected in Saxony, Thuringia and Brandenburg in September. The AfD is currently ahead in surveys in all three countries, in some cases with values of over 30 percent.
In the past few days, tens of thousands of people have demonstrated against the right in several cities. The occasion is a secret meeting of AfD politicians, neo-Nazis and entrepreneurs that was revealed last week by the research platform “Correctiv”. According to the research, they met near Potsdam in November to discuss the expulsion of millions of people with an immigrant background. The revelations are also fueling the debate about a possible ban on the AfD.
Sources: , with AFP
Source: Stern
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