In Brandenburg, AfD MPs want to work with the right-wing extremist “Die Heimat” at the local level. They could now lose their party membership for doing so.
René Springer, the AfD’s regional chairman in Brandenburg, has announced consequences for AfD members who want to work with the right-wing extremist “Die Heimat” in the Upper Spreewald Lausitz region. He will initiate party exclusion proceedings against the men for “the deliberate violation of member duties and the significant violation of the party’s principles,” Springer announced on Tuesday.
The Brandenburg AfD board is currently voting on a corresponding resolution, Springer confirmed to starHe had “previously assumed that something like this could never be possible in our party,” Springer continued. “I can only apologize to all our voters in Lauchhammer and the OSL district who certainly did not want to support the former NPD with their vote.”
On Monday evening, the right-wing extremist party “Die Heimat” announced that it would form joint factions in the Oberspreewald-Lausitz district council and in the Lauchhammer city council. “Die Heimat” has one seat in each of the two parliaments, in the person of Thomas Gürtler. The AfD currently has 16 representatives in the district council and six in the city council.
Plans for cooperation between AfD members and “Heimat” have a history
The planned mergers – they would be the first of their kind between members of both parties – apparently involve three AfD MPs in the Lauchhammer city parliament. Two of them also sit for the AfD in the district council, where they are also seeking a merger with “Heimat” man Gürtler. One of the men had already entered into an alliance with him in the city council in 2021, at that time still for the “Pro Lauchhammer” list.
Hannes Gnauck, federal chairman of the AfD youth organization “Junge Alternative” and member of the AfD state executive board, told the star: “For me the case is clear. This is behavior that is damaging to the party.” He voted in the state executive committee for the expulsion of the three MPs from the party.
The men only joined the party in April 2024 and September 2023, respectively, said Gnauck. “I’m wondering what the intention is. One could even assume it was intentional.” He considers such mergers as the one now being sought in the Oberspreewald-Lausitz district to be “not expedient”.
“Die Heimat” has been the new name of the neo-Nazi NPD since June 2023. It is on the AfD’s so-called incompatibility list. This prohibits AfD members from being members of any of the organizations listed there, but not from working together in parliaments. However, according to the federal party’s statutes, expulsion from the party can be requested if a member “significantly violates the principles or order of the party” and “thereby causes serious damage” to it.
Source: Stern
I have been working in the news industry for over 6 years, first as a reporter and now as an editor. I have covered politics extensively, and my work has appeared in major newspapers and online news outlets around the world. In addition to my writing, I also contribute regularly to 24 Hours World.
