Counter rallies in Kaufbeuren show split between supporters of AfD and locals who acknowledge the Bavarian town’s Nazi past
Soaring church spires, the 1,000-year-old town centre unblemished by second world war bombing or graffiti, snow-capped Alps in the middle distance – Kaufbeuren, in Bavaria, can count many blessings.
Unemployment is in the low single digits, the Luftwaffe backed away from plans to move its training school for Eurofighter and Tornado jet technicians elsewhere and crime is at a historic low.
However, as voters prepare to elect a new European parliament next month, deep-seated fears have gripped a significant share of the electorate in one of the most affluent pockets of Europe’s top economy and delivered it to the far-right Alternative für Deutschland (AfD).
The bond between the party and its voters appears unshaken even by a cascade of recent scandals. The AfD’s lead candidate for the election, Maximilian Krah, was forced by his party leadership on Wednesday to resign from its board and stop campaigning after he told Italy’s La Repubblica that the SS, the Nazi paramilitary force which ran the death camps, were not all criminals and could only be judged on the basis of “individual guilt”.
“It’s a catastrophe – the worst government we ever had,” said civil servant Manuela, 55, who was from a neighbouring town and, like most of the AfD supporters, declined to give her surname. She brought her teenage daughter to the rally. Despite the low rates of violent crime, she said her family no longer felt safe on the streets due to “Islamists”.
Anti-AfD activists booed and whistled from the sidelines as Krah addressed the rally. Manuela said: “They call us Nazis just because we’re patriots. The world laughs at us because no country is as dumb as Germany, with our exaggerated tolerance and diversity. They’ve been telling us for decades we should carry this guilt, and so we should rescue the whole world and be its dole office.”
Hey Manuela from paragraph two, you should talk to Manuela from paragraph one.
Also… Manuela. Is that a German name?
Manuela is a very German name, so much so a German rapper actually made a song about it.
But of course its origin isn’t Germanic at all. Which I doubt people with such convictions care about.
Manuela or Manuéla is a feminine Portuguese, Spanish and Italian given name. The name is a variant of the masculine “Manuel”, which is in turn derived from the Hebrew name “Emanuel”, meaning “God is with us”.[1]
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manuela_(given_name)
Sounds like that German rapper doesn’t believe in German purity.
Edit: I posted this before the person above edited their post.
It’s as German as Mercedes is!
Well you see consistency is a requirement for my opponents. \s
Yep, I know a Manuela from Germany!
And there’s a very well-known TV show and filmmaker from Scotland named Armando Ianucci. I wouldn’t say Armando is a Scottish name.
Wikipedia says the root is Hebrew. So…. a European name? Seems pretty popular in Germany.
I don’t think you read that link very well.
Manuela or Manuéla is a feminine Portuguese, Spanish and Italian given name. The name is a variant of the masculine “Manuel”, which is in turn derived from the Hebrew name “Emanuel”, meaning “God is with us”.[1]
If it’s popular in Germany, given by a German parent to a German child and based on a Hebrew root word, I’d argue it’s a German name as much as it is Portuguese, Spanish, or Italian.
It’s all semantics though, I assumed your original question was about how common the name was in Germany, not about its linguistic roots. It seems fairly common. If you’re looking for a deep dive on the history of the name I’ll let you do your own research because I honestly don’t give a shit and you’re being kind of rude.
It is, or rather was, quite popular in Germany, hovering around place 20-50 for 20 years is nothing to scoff at. Here’s the whole top 250 for the 70s. Right next to Michaela.
Hey Manuela from paragraph two, you should talk to Manuela from paragraph one.
Pointing out that this idiocy only works with a massive amount of cognitive dissonance is nothing new…
If it quacks like a Nazi…
… and walks like a Nazi…
You gotta punch it in the nose!
Donald Duck was a Nazi
…what?
There’s literally a WW2 propaganda piece done by Disney. Donald Duck is a Nazi and they make fun of them. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Der_Fuehrer’s_Face
End result is still, jokingly, saying Donald Duck is a Nazi.
If youre a german citizen and you’re far-right , you’re as nazi as it gets
Like the recent event in Sylt. You can easily find the Nazi sympathisers wherever the rich gather.
More so in the lower classes. Handymen and the likes.
“they call us nazis” - literal nazis
Isn’t Nazi anything super illegal in Germany?
Yes. But the state still has to prove that what you did was a) a Nazi thing and b) that you either knew or should have known it was so.
So if you show the Hitler salute, you’ll be arrested and fined. If you give a speech in which you suggest that immigrants need to learn “the liberating power of work” (referencing the Motto of Auschwitz “Arbeit macht Frei” “Work makes Free”) that is totally fine.
The German right wingers usually knew to ride the edge, ie not show illegal symbols or do illegal chants while still making it obvious. But they’re getting more cheeky because of all the encouragement from Russia, Trump, Musk, etc.
That guy taking a selfie definitely is a so called “Russo-German”, ie a Russian person with German ancestors. Germany (unfortunately) allowed many of these people to obtain German citizenship with no real background check. Now it turns out that a majority of them love Putin and look down on Western values. These jokers all vote far-right and even drive around with huge “Z” symbols on their 4th hand Audis.
Yep, in their mind Russia is great and is the future. Meanwhile, countries west of them are decadent and temporary.
…while they enjoy the freedoms and economic opportunities, and in the case of Germany, high-grade social security of those Western countries they hate so much.
There are enough Nazis in Germany without having to blame a minority of Russian born ones tbh
Minority or not, they are a huge problem because Putin is using Russian minorities in other countries as a pretext to invade claiming they’re being unfairly treated. That’s a separate problem from them being Neonazis, of course, but it adds up. And they are not only Neo-Nazi followers, but agitators, so they are more guilty than your run-of-the-mill AfD NPC.
It’s better we have them put under extreme scrutiny, similar to the other Neonazi groups which are being observed by the authorities.
Yeah. Nazi is the wrong word. The AfD people make politics in favor of Russia and China. Traitor is a better word.
The NSDAP had no issues working with Russia, as long as it was in their interest.
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And that is why you do not use things like calling someone a Nazi inflationary. It has the exact opposite effect.
if being incorrectly called a nazi makes you be a nazi, you weren’t incorrectly called a nazi.
How is that what I said?
Calling people that want X but do not see themselves (and are not) anywhere near far right Nazis means that the word loses all meaning. “I am a Nazi? I guess all the other people they call Nazis are/were not that bad then”
AFD is trying to make Germany only of pure Aryan bloodline. They literally have a plan to deport anyone not of German ancestry. How are they not Nazi’s?
How many racisms does one have to do before they can be considered “far right” enough to be called a nazi?
Nazi is the most extreme far right possible. Everything else is less crazy. Mildly right people are not Nazis. They can be racist, close minded, whatever.
Absolutely true. However, the lines between proper Nazis and AfD/its sub-organizations is very blurry. Even courts and the secret service for the interior have said so recently. Still, calling people Nazis who support and vote for Nazis and their allies is not quite correct.
wer mit nazis zu tisch geht ist staatsveräter
Sure, but it doesn’t make them nazis
-> ist nazi versteher -> fast so schlimm wie ein nazi sollte eig gleich behandelt werden
Yes, everything is blurry, no question. By blanket calling all of them Nazi the word loses it’s meaning. Those that previously would be like “Nazis are bad” find themselves called just that. That is all I am saying. It does not help.
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