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AfD faces harsh criticism for holding party congress on Nazi anniversary

2026-02-16 08:23:00, Kosova & Bota CNA

AfD faces harsh criticism for holding party congress on Nazi anniversary

The far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party is planning to hold its national party congress in the eastern state of Thuringia. The congress coincides with the 100th anniversary of a Nazi party congress in the same state and has sparked anger and backlash from across the mainstream political spectrum.

"This deliberately chosen parallel shows once again what kind of party the AfD is. The AfD knows exactly what it is doing. I find it disgusting how little decency and respect this party has regarding our history,"  said Christian Democratic (CDU) lawmaker Serap Güler.

The former head of the Social Democrats (SPD) parliamentary group, Rolf Mützenich, accused the AfD of deliberate provocations to attract attention.

Historian Jörg Ganzenmüller, a scholar of totalitarianism, spoke of "a deliberate act that has an impact on several levels." He said that on the one hand, this sent a signal to the far-right scene, which is familiar with Nazi history and its important dates, while on the other hand, it aimed to give the public the impression that it was a normal party that was unaware of the historical significance of the date.

Another historian, Stephan Zänker, chairman of the Weimar Republic Association, also called the choice of date and location of the AfD congress "a fatal parallel."

A spokesman for the Thuringian branch of the AfD has dismissed the criticism and said there was no connection between the party and the Nazi party congress. The National Socialist (Nazi) party congress in the then Thuringian capital of Weimar on July 3-4, 1926, was a historic moment in the rise of the party and took place in the same place where the Weimar Republic had been founded seven years earlier. The AfD is planning to hold the congress on July 4-5 in what is now the Thuringian capital of Erfurt. /CNA





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