Daily Times

Germany’s far right AfD party is choosing new leaders on Saturday in a vote shaped by an increasingly powerful radical wing which wants a rethink of the country’s culture of atonement for Nazi crimes.

The anti-migrant party’s radicals have the upper hand following a series of electoral gains in eastern regions in September and October that have caused widespread domestic and international concern.

A few days ahead of the vote at the party conference, only one member of Alternative for Germany has officially put forward their candidacy for the job.

Lawmaker Gottfried Curio, 59, is known for his strident anti-migrant speeches but does not have broad support in the party and is seen as having few chances.

The real drama will come on Saturday when candidates will pitch for the support of some 600 delegates at the conference in Brunswick in northwest Germany.

Of the party’s two current co-leaders, Joerg Meuthen is expected to seek a new mandate while Alexander Gauland has said he will only decide on the day depending on who else comes forward.

‘An anarchic clique’

The party, which was only established six years ago, is riven with personal and ideological rivalries and Gauland himself called it “an anarchic clique”.

Meuthen, a university professor from the wealthy Baden-Wurttemberg region in western Germany, represents the more moderate wing of the party.

The suspense is over who, if anyone, will replace the 78-year-old Gauland — a central figure in the party who is also co-leader of its MPs.

Gauland has until now managed to unite the AfD’s factions but the growing influence of one group — known simply as “The Wing” — is a challenge.

The group’s leading protagonist is Bjoern Hoecke, the AfD’s leader in the eastern region of Thuringia where the party came second in an election in October.

“The Wing” aims to radicalise the party by tackling one of the foundation stones of Germany’s post-war political culture — atonement for its Nazi past.

While accusations of links between some of the faction’s candidates and neo-Nazi groups have failed to frighten off voters, they have drawn the attention of the secret services to the party’s activities.

“The electoral successes of the pre-fascist wing in the eastern regions will accelerate radicalisation,” said Matthias Quent, a researcher specialising in the far-right, quoted by the Swiss daily Tagesanzeiger.

“More and more moderate AfD members are leaving the party,” he was quoted as saying.