Kalbitz steps down from Brandenburg leadership, awaiting “clarification”

Andreas Kalbitz (left) and Jörg Meuthen meet each other one year ago in Cottbus, an important but depressed city in Brandenburg state.

By Carolyn Yeager

See my previous post from May 16: https://carolynyeager.net/alternative-fuer-deutschland-votes-expel-popular-right-wing-state-leader-party

Andreas Kalbitz announced Tuesday that he was stepping down from the role of regional leader in Brandenburg, while awaiting legal clarification from a Berlin regional court. The Brandenburg AfD leadership had previously voted to keep Kalbitz as their state leader even after he was no longer a member of the party, but they accepted his resignation unanimously.

Kalbitz had been connected with a “far-right” but legal youth group back in 2007 named Heimattreuen Deutschen Jugend (HDJ), translated as 'German Youth Faithful to the Homeland,' which he said he was never officially a member of, but only attended some events. Since that time, this group has been banned in Germany.

The AfD's national co-leader, Jörg Meuthen, said he welcomed Kalbitz' decision, having previously said that Kalbitz had "no place in the party." The AfD national board has a rule that no former member of a “neo-nazi” youth group can join the AfD.

Kalbitz said he was being blamed for creating damage to the party that was not his doing.

“I am being blamed here for an explosion and subsequent damage done by shrapnel from an explosive device that I did not plant."

The decision contributed to Germany's domestic intelligence agency putting the branch under surveillance. Kalbitz criticized the federal executive board and said he believed that he would he be proved right in the end and this would raise the question: "How credible are those who keep saying that they are acting according to the rule of law?"

I, of course, like and would support Kalbitz, and the question I would raise is how can a youth group that is called “faithful to the homeland” be considered a bad thing? Or illegal? Most of the AfD voters think it is a good thing, and they are a solid segment of the German population, especially in the eastern states. I guess the AfD wants to expand its base and win elections by also appealing to those who do not feel the need “to be faithful to the homeland,” or because Jews and moderates don't like that particular terminology. An acceptance of multiculturalism is mandatory in European politics today. But the Alternative fuer Deutschland is supposed to be different—to offer an alternative.

If Jorg Meuthen doesn't want to stand too far apart from all the other parties, the AfD may have to change its name.