Outside the hall, Bettina, a mother of eight, puffed on her cigarette, saying that, because of her upbringing in East Germany, she was skeptical of what the state told her. (Like others interviewed in Magdeburg, he declined to give his full name for fear of the consequences of making his views public.)
“You should always ask this question: Who benefits from what’s happening?” He said about the allegations against Krah. “If I don’t use my brain and question it and let myself be influenced, I’m just a puppet like everyone else.”
One of his friends, a man with a pointy beard tied up with elastic bands, arrived in a white BMW emblazoned with political slogans, one of which read: “Financial capitalism is a threat to the values of civilization.” He said they would both attend a rally the next day in the square next to Magdeburg’s Gothic cathedral, with Bettina describing the event as “all about sovereignty”, where people would “talk about coronavirus measures.” can do.”
The next day, hundreds of people attended a protest that brought together a number of fringe groups, many protesting NATO and military support for Ukraine. Some protesters waved Russian flags, others waved blue flags with dove designs.
Local AfD politicians distributed brochures under a canopy reading: “Take back your country.” They included Kirchner, who once again claimed that the current German government was carrying out East German-style repression.
He said, “Involving a domestic intelligence agency for an election campaign so they could try to discredit us, infiltrate us and destroy us, I already had that with the Stasi.” This, he said, explains why the AfD is particularly strong among people who lived in the former East Germany. “They’ve seen it all before.”
A party supporter, a senior figure who declined to give his name for “confidentiality reasons”, agreed with the assessment, saying that the investigations – including the investigation against Krahn – were all politically motivated.
“I believe this is a witch hunt,” he said. “They want to discredit the AfD.”