2023-08-30 12:50:16
Bayern
“He showed the Hitler salute” – new allegations against Aiwanger
It began with an anti-Semitic leaflet, and now Bavaria’s Deputy Prime Minister is said to have given the Hitler salute several times during his school days. Does he have to resign?
Published30. Aug 2023, 2:50 p.m
The Bavarian Vice Prime Minister can no longer get out of the anti-Semitism allegations against him.
His former classmate, Mario Bauer, told “Report Munich”: “He came into the class and showed the Hitler salute.”
Screenshot/ Report München
Markus Söder, Prime Minister of Bavaria, has now sent Aiwanger a catalog of questions so that he can take a detailed position.
Getty Images
The leaflet affair comes at the worst possible time for Aiwanger: in October there are state elections in Bavaria.
IMAGO/Sven Simon
The allegations of anti-Semitism against Hubert Aiwanger continue, even if his brother Helmut now claims to be the author of the leaflet.
Now a schoolmate of Aiwanger reported that the current Vice Prime Minister had repeatedly shown the Hitler salute.
It is still unclear whether Aiwanger will have to resign because of the affair.
The Hubert Aiwanger case takes a new turn, which is again problematic for him: after the “Süddeutsche Zeitung” last week anti-Semitic pamphlet has published, which Aiwanger is said to have written during his school days, his former classmate Mario Bauer now speaks up: “From time to time, when he came into the class, he showed the Hitler salute,” he said to “Report Munich”, one Broadcast by Bavarian Radio. “He also made these Hitler speeches very often, in this slang, he wanted to attract attention with them. There were anti-Jewish jokes about Auschwitz, there were 100 percent of them,” Bauer continues. Other classmates disagree with these descriptions.
In the said leaflet, a supposed “national competition” is advertised, namely for the “greatest traitor to the fatherland”. This is followed by a list of “prizes” all aimed at being murdered in different ways in the Auschwitz concentration camp: “1. Prize: A free flight through the chimney in Auschwitz», «2. Prize: A lifelong stay in the mass grave», «3. Prize: A free shot in the neck».
Does Aiwanger have to resign as Vice Prime Minister?
Aiwanger himself has already denied any connection to the leaflet – through a spokesman the politician informed that he had not produced “something like this” and threatened legal action including claims for damages “against this smear campaign”. He added that he knew the true author and that he would explain himself. Shortly thereafter, his brother Helmut contacted the Bayern media group and claimed that he was the author of the leaflet, but that he had now distanced himself from the content and regretted the consequences of the action.
Of course, the allegations were not without political consequences for the politician: even if Prime Minister Markus Söder (CSU) Aiwanger has not yet asked to resign, but now he has to face a 25-question catalogue. Aiwanger will probably be asked to provide more detailed information about his past in this – what exactly is asked is still unknown. “But I also say that this is not an acquittal or a license,” said Söder. The allegations against Aiwanger also come at the worst possible time: a new state parliament will be elected in Bavaria in October.
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