Der Flügel

Der Flügel (lit. 'the wing') is a far-right faction within Germany's Alternative for Germany (Alternative für Deutschland, AfD), a right-wing populist opposition party.[1] The group was led by Björn Höcke and Andreas Kalbitz (banned from AfD in 2020).[2] Approximately 20 percent of AfD members are organized also in the "Flügel".[3] Following the request by the AfD executive board to dissolve Der Flügel by the end of April 2020, the group's online presence went offline. The Office for the Protection of the Constitution (BfV) has no reliable knowledge of an actual dissolution. Within the party, Der Flügel now calls itself the "social-patriotic faction".[4]

Der Flügel
LeaderBjörn Höcke
Andreas Kalbitz (until 2020)
Founded1 March 2015 (2015-03-01)
Dissolved2020 (de jure)
HeadquartersKyffhäuser (meetings)
Membership (2020)~7000
IdeologyAnti-immigration
Antisemitism
Ethnic nationalism
Islamophobia
Political positionFar-right
National affiliationAlternative for Germany

At the time of the dissolution, according to BfV, one out of five AfD members belonged to Der Flügel.[5]

History

In March 2015, Björn Höcke and André Poggenburg, then chairman of the AfD Saxony-Anhalt, initiated the “Erfurt Declaration” (Erfurter Resolution). The ethnic-nationalist movement “The Wing” then formed.[6] Der Flügel's founding document, the Erfurt Declaration of 2015, describes AfD as a "resistance movement against the further erosion of the identity of Germany."[7] Henry Bernhard of DLF wrote in 2019 that the group's radicalization was apparent at the group's annual meetings (Kyffhäusertreffen), with the group increasingly accepting "racism, Islamophobia, anti-Semitism, xenophobia, historical revisionism," and the downplaying of Nazi crimes.[7] Höcke and Kalbitz are controversial for their links to neo-Nazi groups.[1][8]

Der Flügel turned against the course of the AfD party founder Bernd Lucke and forced the power struggle within the party. At the Essen party convent in July 2015 there was a test of strength at which Bernd Lucke appeared. The national conservative Frauke Petry was elected as party chairwomean and Bernd Lucke withdrew from the AfD.[6]

The group attained a dominant position in the AfD associations of several states in eastern Germany, particularly Brandenburg, Saxony, Saxony-Anhalt, and Thuringia.[7] In 2020, the group was estimated to have some 7,000 members, constituting one-fifth of the AfD's total membership.[1] The group has been the subject of internal party battles within the AfD, where relative moderates within the party have opposed the influence of extremist elements.[1] Leading AfD politicians, like AfD-chairman Jörg Meuthen, criticized Höcke's "personality cult" but not necessarily his far-right political positions.[9]

The Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution (BfV) classified Der Flügel in January 2019 as a suspected case of right-wing extremism, since its "propagated policy concept was aimed at exclusion, contempt and far-reaching rights of foreigners, migrants, especially Muslims, and politically dissenting people."[7] In March 2020, the BfV classified Der Flügel as "a right-wing extremist endeavor against the free democratic basic order" that was incompatible with Germany's Basic Law, and placed the group under intelligence surveillance.[10][11][8] Following the BfV's announcement, the AfD's national leaders demanded the dissolution of Der Flügel, and Höcke and Kalbitz asked members to "cease their activities."[1] However, Der Flügel members were not asked to leave the AfD, and in their announcement of the group's disbandment, Höcke and Kalbitz wrote that, "In principle, it is not possible to dissolve what does not formally exist."[1] The pair also retained their leadership positions in two of the AfD's state associations.[1] In January 2022, Meuthen declared that he would resign from the party chairmanship with immediate effect and resign from the AfD.[12]

Notable AfD-politician Jörg Meuthen resigned in January 2022 from the party chairmanship and from the AfD. He justified this with the fact that he had lost the power struggle with the formally dissolved right-wing extremist Der Flügel over the political direction of AfD. Meuthen criticized that the party had developed far to the right and was in large parts no longer concurrent with the Liberal democratic basic order in Germany.[4][13]

Important persons and influence

References
  1. Christopher F. Schuetze, Far-Right Faction of German Populist Party Vows to Dissolve, New York Times (25 March 2020).
  2. "German far-right AfD overtakes Merkel's CDU in Thuringia". BBC News. 28 October 2019. Retrieved 29 October 2019.
  3. Hindrichs, Eine Analyse von Benjamin (30 March 2020). "Der "Flügel" verschwindet – das stärkt die Rechtsextremen in der AfD". Krautreporter (in German). Retrieved 20 December 2021.
  4. tagesschau.de. "Der AfD-"Flügel" - stärker denn je?". tagesschau.de (in German). Retrieved 20 January 2022.
  5. "Beobachtung durch Verfassungsschutz: Das ist der AfD-"Flügel"". Der Spiegel (in German). 12 March 2020. ISSN 2195-1349. Retrieved 29 August 2023.
  6. "AfD – Die Geschichte der Rechtsaußenpartei Deutschlands". www.fr.de (in German). 26 September 2023. Retrieved 9 October 2023.
  7. "Der Unterschied zwischen "Flügel" und restlicher Partei". Deutschlandfunk. Retrieved 29 October 2019.
  8. Katrin Bennhold, Germany Places Part of Far-Right Party Under Surveillance, New York Times (12 March 2020).
  9. "Nein zum "Personenkult": 100 AfD-Funktionäre proben Aufstand gegen Rechtsaußen Höcke". Die Zeit. Retrieved 12 November 2019.
  10. Bundesamt für Verfassungsschutz stuft AfD-Teilorganisation „Der Flügel“ als gesichert rechtsextremistische Bestrebung ein Archived 18 March 2020 at the Wayback Machine [The Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution classifies the AfD sub-organization "The Wing" as a right-wing extremist endeavor] (press release), Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution (12 March 2020).
  11. "Verfassungsschutz stuft "Flügel" als rechtsextrem ein". Der Spiegel (in German). 12 March 2020.
  12. "Ex-AfD-Chef Meuthen zu seinem Austritt: "Keine Zukunft mehr"". www1.wdr.de (in German). 29 January 2022. Retrieved 29 January 2022.
  13. derwesten.de, DerWesten- (28 January 2022). "AfD: Jörg Meuthen gibt Austritt bekannt – "Das Herz der Partei schlägt heute sehr weit rechts"". www.derwesten.de (in German). Retrieved 29 January 2022.
  14. Schneider, Jens; Riedel, Katja (21 March 2020). "AfD-Flügel um Höcke und Kalbitz verschiebt Treffen". Süddeutsche.de (in German). Retrieved 29 August 2023.
  15. Balser, Markus (15 November 2020). "Der Rauswurf des Dritten Manns". Süddeutsche.de (in German). Retrieved 19 January 2022.
  16. mdr.de. "Hans-Thomas Tillschneider, die AfD und der Verfassungsschutz | MDR.DE". www.mdr.de (in German). Retrieved 29 August 2023.
  17. Zeitung, Süddeutsche (23 March 2020). "AfD-Flügel in Hessen hört auf". Süddeutsche.de (in German). Retrieved 29 August 2023.
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