A nationalist party leader outraged German politicians by saying the country has a right to be ‘proud of German soldiers’ achievements in two world wars.’
Alexander Gauland of the anti-immigration Alternative for Germany (AfD) said his country should ‘reclaim its past’.
The 76-year-old – a top candidate for the party in the elections on September 24 – said Germany had atoned for it crimes.
Alexander Gauland, co-leader of Alternative for Germany, told a party meeting his country had atoned for its crimes and should ‘reclaim its past’
On Friday Justice Minister Heiko Maaz branded him an ‘extremist’ on Twitter after the remarks surfaced in a video of a September 2 speech at a party meeting that went public on Thursday.
‘Anyone who talks this way must stand accused of being a right-wing extremist,’ he said.
‘The radical right-wing face of AfD is showing itself increasingly openly.’
And Thomas Oppermann of the Social Democratic Party said the footage exposed ‘Gauland as an ultra-right militarist’ and the Afd was ‘clearly turning into a rightwing extremist party’.
Co-leader Alexander Gauland also said the Nazi years ‘don’t affect our identity anymore’ in the speech, adding no other European nation had faced up to its dark past in the way Germany has.
‘No other nation has so clearly dealt with its wrongful past as Germany,’ he said.
‘We have the right to reclaim not just our country, but also our past.
‘If the French are rightly proud of their emperor (Napoleon), and the British of (Admiral Horatio Lord) Nelson and (Prime Minister Winston) Churchill, then we have the right to be proud of the achievements of German soldiers in two world wars.’
Mr Gauland said the Nazi years don’t affect his country anymore and called on his country to reclaim its past in the latest incident in a series of controversies, which included him saying a politician with Turkish roots should be ‘disposed of in Anatolia’
Lawmaker Volker Beck of The Greens condemned his comments as ‘ever more disgusting’.
He said ‘the cowardly mass murder of Jews’ ‘is nothing to be proud of’.
Polls suggest AfD – which campaigns under the slogan ‘Stop Islamisation’ – will take 10 to 12 per cent of the vote.
If it does, it has a good chance of being the third-strongest party in Germany.
Figures indicate AfD will enter parliament after repeated controversies from prominent members.
Mr Gauland previously said a politician with Turkish roots should be ‘disposed of in Anatolia’.
He also provoked outrage by saying no-one would want a German footballer with an African father ‘as a neighbour’.