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2023 Potsdam far-right meeting

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On 25 November 2023, a group of right-wing extremists met at the Adlon Mansion on Lake Lehnitz in Potsdam, Germany. At the event, Martin Sellner, an Austrian right-wing extremist presented a plan for the deportation (called "remigration" by Sellner) of certain parts of the German populace, namely asylum seekers, foreigners with a residence permit, and "non-assimilated" German citizens. The meeting was attended by members of the German right-wing populist party AfD, the mainstream centre-right party Christian Democratic Union (CDU), the Werteunion (a German conservative political association), and the far-right Identitarian movement, among others. The meeting was exposed by the investigative journalism organization Correctiv, which published its findings on 10 January 2024.[1]

2023 Potsdam far-right meeting
Adlon Mansion at Lake Lehnitz (2013)
Date25 November 2023 (2023-11-25)
VenueAdlon Mansion
LocationPotsdam, Brandenburg, Germany
Coordinates52°26′33″N 13°02′55″E / 52.4425°N 13.0485°E / 52.4425; 13.0485
MotiveEstablish a plan on remigration of asylum seekers, foreigners, and foreign-born German citizens
ReporterCorrectiv
Organized by
Participants

Both the revelations regarding the content of the meeting and the networking between the AfD and other right-wing extremists led to a broad wave of outrage and horror among numerous representatives from German politics, business, and culture; in many German cities, tens of thousands of people protested against the plans discussed at the meeting. What followed was a debate about a possible ban of the AfD and party expulsions of members of the CDU that attended the meeting.[2] Some participants of the Potsdam meeting mounted lawsuits against the report, with its main points however remaining unchallenged as of 1 March 2024.[3]

Meeting

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Gernot Mörig and Hans-Christian Limmer [de], of whom Limmer was not present, had invited the guests. Möring was a former leader of the "Freibund", a German youth association associated with the German alt-right movement, before heading the German Patriotic Youth [de] (Heimattreue Deutsche Jugend; HDJ), a far-right and neo-nazi association. Limmer is a former advisor of the Roland Berger consulting firm, who is best known for the 2002 takeover of the BackWerk bakery chain and his investments in the system catering companies Hans im Glück and Pottsalat. The invitation to the meeting announced a "Masterplan" and a speech by Martin Sellner.[1][4] Participants were also required to donate at least €5,000.[5] The meeting was supposed to stay secret, but Correctiv was able to get a copy of the invitation. With the aid of anonymous sources as well as video footage from inside the hotel, Correctiv successfully reconstructed the contents of the meeting.[1][4]

According to Correctiv, the 22 attendees included the following people:

  • Martin Sellner, Austrian right-wing extremist and former speaker of the Austrian Identitarian movement
  • Roland Hartwig, former member of the German parliament for the AfD, and the personal advisor to AfD chairwoman Alice Weidel at the time of the event
  • Gerrit Huy, AfD-Member of the German parliament
  • Ulrich Siegmund, Chairman of the AfD-faction in the state parliament of Saxony-Anhalt
  • Tim Krause, speaker of the AfD-faction in the state parliament of Brandenburg[6] and vice chairman of the AfD district association Potsdam-Mittelmark
  • Ulrich Vosgerau, member of the CDU and the board of trustees of the Desiderius-Erasmus-Stiftung affiliated with the AfD
  • Mario Müller, member of the Identitarian movement and research assistant to the AfD-member of parliament Jan Wenzel Schmidt
  • Alexander von Bismarck, member of the CDU and former mayor of Insel[7][8]
  • Simone Baum, member of the CDU[9] and chairperson of the North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW) branch of the Werteunion[10][11]
  • Michaela Schneider, member of the CDU[9] and vice chairperson of the North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW) branch of the Werteunion[11]
  • Silke Schröder, a member of the board of directors of the Verein Deutsche Sprache at the time of the event, and a columnist in the conservative publication Deutschland Kurier.[12] She also worked with the Austrian far-right media platform AUF1.[13]
  • Henning Pless, right-wing extremist alternative practitioner and esoteric from Kiel[1][14]
  • Gernot Mörig,[15][16] a former personal assistant of Peter Kurth (CDU), the former president of the Federal Association of German Waste Disposal, Water - and Raw Material Economy,[17][18][19] alongside his wife Astrid Mörig[1] and his son Arne Friedrich Mörig
  • Wilhelm Wilderink (CDU)[20] and Mathilda Huss,[21] the hotel operators of the Adlon mansion
  • Hans-Ulrich Kopp, an entrepreneur, publisher and founder of Lepanto Verlag[22]
  • Erik Ahrens, political activist classified as belonging to the right-wing extremist scene by state-level security authorities, and known for his part in the success of AfD-affiliated accounts on TikTok, such as that of Maximilian Krah[23][24]
  • Christoph Hofer, an IT entrepreneur[25][26]
  • Two clerks, one member of the Identitarian movement, and a doctor.

Days after the uncovering by Correctiv, news reports based on work by another collective stated that the meeting may already have been the seventh of its kind; a draft letter by Mörig purportedly thanked AfD chairman Tino Chrupalla for his participation in a 2021 meeting. While Chrupalla refused to comment, his participation in the latter meeting was confirmed by other AfD members.[5]

Master plan

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Sellner's so-called "master plan for remigration" would entail the relocation of three groups of people from Germany: asylum seekers, foreigners with the right to stay, and "non-assimilated" German citizens. According to Sellner, "tailor-made laws" would have to be used to exert pressure on such residents to assimilate, in order to persuade them to leave the country. The plan is intended to be a "decades[-long] project".[1] Sellner also brought up the idea of a "model state" in North Africa, where up to two million people could be "moved to" and the refugee helpers could follow them.[27]

In this context, Sellner also discussed the concept of so-called "ethnic elections" since, according to him, people with a history of migration tend to vote for "migration-friendly" parties. The report by Correctiv notes that this argument by Sellner, if it were realized, would cast doubt on about 20 million people's right to vote in Germany.[1] The discussed magnitude of millions of people makes it clear as to why some media outlets used the term "deportation plan" to refer the master plan in their reports.[28] Sellner wrote to the news agency DPA that the plan envisioned a special economic zone in North Africa, which would be leased and organized as a model city. The plan included "not only deportations, but also local help, a dominant culture, and pressure to assimilate."[27] According to Ulrich Siegmund, foreign restaurants should disappear from the streetscape, and it should become "unattractive" for the clients of such establishments to live in Saxony-Anhalt.

There was allegedly no criticism of the plan among the participants, but, rather, doubts as to whether it could be implemented. The panel stated that in order to realize the proposed remigration plan, pre-political power should be built up. Money was to be invested in influencer projects, propaganda and campaigns to change the "climate of opinion".[27]

According to Correctiv, there was talk of discrediting the Federal Constitutional Court of Germany, casting doubt on democratic elections, and fighting the public media. There were also discussions about influencing young people on social media with content that would be perceived as "normal political theses".[27]

The plan of a "remigration through displacement" is not a new idea. In his book Nie zweimal in denselben Fluss ("never into the same river twice"), published in 2018, Björn Höcke called for a cleansing of "culture-foreign" people in Germany.[29] At an AfD-meeting in December of 2023, he added that one could, without a problem, "also [live] with 20, 30 percent fewer people in Germany", referring to the people to be displaced.[30]

Reactions

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Main article: 2024 German anti-extremism protests
 
Election poster of the AfD Thuringia supporting Remigration(2024)

The revelation of the meeting taking place resulted in mass protests throughout Germany and calls for the AfD to be banned.[31][32] Groups of thousands of protestors gathered in several German cities, with roughly 100,000 in Munich alone on the weekend of 20 January.[33] Some sources have reported that up to 1.4 million people were involved in the protests in the period 19–21 January.[34][35]

The AfD dropped slightly in two polls ten days after the protests commenced,[36] with slippage continuing through February, where its standing has since remained.[37] In Austria, the FPÖ scored losses in polls conducted by three different institutes in the period from 12 to 18 January 2024, but retained the lead.[38]

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Right wing populism is on the rise all throughout Europe. These modern forms of populism, which are increasingly successful, are heavily founded in anti-migration politics.[39] The AfD received 15,9% in the EU elections - a major win for them, Marine Le Pen, a right-wing populist in France is continuously gaining support, Geert Wilders another right-wing populist has just won the elections in the Netherlands[40] and there are many more examples of the far-right gaining support. As more and more far-right populist parties are gaining power some are moving from a nativist stand-point (leaving the EU or other transnational organizations for example) to working together with other far-right populist parties in said organizations. The goal for many has shifted from leaving the European Union to changing it from within, now that the Radical Right has gained so much support and is able to make many transnational connections.[39] Radical Right Populist parties in the EU share anti-migration, anti-Islam, nationalist and nativist views, as blatantly displayed when Correctiv investigative journalists uncovered the "remigration" plans discussed at the Potsdam Conference. Far right parties of the EU want to hinder migration, maybe even deport or "remigrate" people and the meeting in Potsdam is indicative of these future trends and what may come.

References

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  1. ^ a b c d e f g Bensmann, Marcus; von Daniels, Justus; Dowideit, Anette; Peters, Jean; Keller, Gabriela (10 January 2024). "Geheimplan gegen Deutschland". correctiv.org (in German). Archived from the original on 21 January 2024. Retrieved 11 January 2024.
  2. ^ "CDU will Teilnehmer an Extremisten-Treffen aus der Partei werfen" [CDU wants to oust participants of meeting of extremists from party]. Süddeutsche Zeitung (in German). 12 January 2024. Archived from the original on 14 January 2024. Retrieved 12 January 2024.
  3. ^ Sander, Lalon; Ansa, Sean-Elias (1 March 2024). "Tausendmal Tausende für Vielfalt" [Thousand times thousands for plurality]. taz (in German). Retrieved 12 March 2024.
  4. ^ a b Baumann, Birgit (14 January 2024). "Investigativjournalist von Daniels: "Jedem muss klar sein, was die AfD in Wirklichkeit will"". Der Standard (in German). Archived from the original on 16 January 2024. Retrieved 14 January 2024.
  5. ^ a b "Geheimtreffen der Rechtsextremen: Offenbar hat AfD-Chef Chrupalla an früherer Runde teilgenommen" [Secret meeting of the right-wing extremists: AfD chairman Chrupalla apparently took part in earlier edition]. RND (in German). 14 January 2024. Archived from the original on 26 February 2024. Retrieved 11 February 2024.
  6. ^ Brandenburger AfD-Fraktion steht hinter Inhalten des rechten Geheimtreffens. Archived 21 January 2024 at the Wayback Machine In: rbb24.de. 17 January 2024, retrieved 17 January 2024.
  7. ^ Bock, Michael (10 November 2011). "CDU-Landesvorstand watscht von Bismarck ab". volksstimme.de. Archived from the original on 12 January 2024. Retrieved 12 January 2024.
  8. ^ Mischke, Roland (1 February 2004). "Junkerland in Junkerhand". welt.de. Archived from the original on 12 January 2024. Retrieved 12 January 2024.
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  11. ^ a b Arnold, Andreas; Gaudich, Arnd (11 January 2024). "Correctiv: Zwei Oberbergerinnen bei Geheimtreffen in Potsdam". ksta.de. Archived from the original on 20 January 2024. Retrieved 12 January 2024.
  12. ^ Fischer, Carsten (10 January 2024). "Verein Deutsche Sprache aus Kamen distanziert sich von Vorstandsmitglied". muensterlandzeitung.de. Archived from the original on 12 January 2024. Retrieved 12 January 2024.
  13. ^ Dominik Lenze: Saskia Ludwig will die Pandemie aufarbeiten. Archived 15 January 2024 at the Wayback Machine tagesspiegel.de, 15 November 2023.
  14. ^ La Quimera. "Neonazi-Funktionär betreibt Heilpraxis in der Kieler Innenstadt" (in German). Archived from the original on 17 January 2024. Retrieved 17 January 2024.
  15. ^ Eydlin, Alexander (10 January 2024). "Treffen von Rechtsextremen: Restaurantkette Hans im Glück trennt sich von Gesellschafter". zeit.de. Archived from the original on 16 January 2024. Retrieved 12 January 2024.
  16. ^ Gülmen, Metin (11 January 2024). "Hans im Glück: Nach "Remigration"-Treffen! Co-Inhaber wirft hin". derwesten.de. Archived from the original on 21 January 2024. Retrieved 12 January 2024.
  17. ^ Kersting, Silke; Neuerer, Dietmar (12 January 2024). "Nach AfD-Treffen – Cheflobbyist der Recyclingwirtschaft muss gehen". Handelsblatt (in German). Archived from the original on 17 January 2024. Retrieved 17 January 2024.
  18. ^ Völkische Verbindungen Kappen (6 December 2023). "Extrem rechte Clans II". Antifa-Info.net (in German). Archived from the original on 22 January 2024. Retrieved 17 January 2024.
  19. ^ "Ex-CDU-Politiker: Ehemaliger Kölner OB-Kandidat Peter Kurth war Gastgeber für Rechtsextreme" (in German). 12 January 2024. Archived from the original on 21 January 2024. Retrieved 17 January 2024.
  20. ^ Hauk, Isabelle (7 February 2024). "Potsdamer CDU bereitet Ausschlussverfahren gegen Villa Adlon-Eigentümer vor".
  21. ^ "Das Landhaus Adlon und das Neonazi-Treffen: Was über die Potsdamer Villa und ihre Besitzer bekannt ist", Der Tagesspiegel Online, ISSN 1865-2263, archived from the original on 22 January 2024, retrieved 17 January 2024
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  23. ^ von Boeselager, Matern (8 June 2024). ""Sie sitzen hier mit jemandem auf der Ebene von Steve Bannon"". Der Spiegel. Retrieved 2 July 2024.
  24. ^ Fuchs, Christian; Steinhagen, Martin; Zimmermann, Fritz (12 April 2024). "Weiterer Rechtsextremist bei Postdamer Treffen". Die Zeit. Retrieved 2 July 2024.
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  29. ^ Funke, Hajo (24 October 2019). "Rechtsextremismus: Höcke will den Bürgerkrieg". Die Zeit (in German). ISSN 0044-2070. Retrieved 10 July 2024.
  30. ^ NDR, Robert Bongen, Armin Ghassim, Sulaiman Tadmory. "Millionen Deutsche haben Angst vor Abschiebungen". tagesschau.de (in German). Retrieved 10 July 2024.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  31. ^ "Germany sees second day of large protests against far right – DW – 01/21/2024". dw.com. Archived from the original on 21 January 2024. Retrieved 21 January 2024.
  32. ^ "AfD: Germans float ban on elected far-right party after scandal". BBC News. 20 January 2024. Archived from the original on 20 January 2024. Retrieved 21 January 2024.
  33. ^ Tanno, Sophie (20 January 2024). "Germany's far-right AfD face mounting protests over plan to deport migrants". CNN. Archived from the original on 20 January 2024. Retrieved 21 January 2024.
  34. ^ "Germany: 1.4 million marched against far right over weekend". Le Monde.fr. 21 January 2024. Archived from the original on 24 January 2024. Retrieved 24 January 2024.
  35. ^ "Germany's second day of major city rallies against AfD". dw.com. 24 January 2024. Archived from the original on 21 January 2024. Retrieved 24 January 2024.
  36. ^ Marsh, Sarah (23 January 2024). "Support for far-right AfD eases after Germany-wide protests - polls". Reuters. Retrieved 25 January 2024.
  37. ^ "Germany — National parliament voting intention". Politico. 15 February 2022. Retrieved 23 April 2024.
  38. ^ Mohr, Martin (22 January 2024). "Welche Partei würden Sie wählen, wenn am nächsten Sonntag Nationalratswahl wäre?" [Which party would you vote for if next Sunday was National Council voting day?]. Statista (in German). Archived from the original on 26 February 2024. Retrieved 26 January 2024.
  39. ^ a b McDonnell, Duncan; Werner, Annika (1 January 2020), "From International Populism to Transnational Populism", International Populism, Oxford University Press, pp. 197–230, doi:10.1093/oso/9780197500859.003.0007, ISBN 978-0-19-750085-9, retrieved 6 July 2024
  40. ^ "Dutch government finally sworn in after Wilders election win". www.bbc.com. Retrieved 6 July 2024.
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