Leaders of Germany’s far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) and the left-wing party Bündnis Sahra Wagenknecht (BSW), on Wednesday, clashed in a fiery exchange on broadcaster ARD.
AfD co-head Alice Weidel and BSW leader Sahra Wagenknecht traded blows, which also became personal, as they touched on Weidel’s recent conversation with tech billionaire, Elon Musk.
They then got heated over a controversial statement regarding the political ideology of Germany’s former Nazi dictator, Adolf Hitler.
Wagenknecht first accused Weidel of failing to engage critically with Musk during a recent live talk on social media platform X.
She described the interaction as “somewhat embarrassing,’’ claiming that Weidel appeared to idolise Musk.
Wagenknecht had previously accused Weidel of seeming like a submissive fangirl during the interaction.
Weidel swiftly countered, dismissing the fangirl label and asserting: “it was a dialogue. I am a fangirl of freedom of expression.’’
The exchange took a more serious turn as the two leaders clashed over Weidel’s much-debated remark in her conversation with Musk, where she termed Hitler a communist.
Weidel defended her statement by explaining there were parallels with communism and socialist systems, claiming Hitler was a left-winger in spirit.
Wagenknecht described this as an outrage against Hitler’s victims, noting Hitler had sent thousands of communists and social democrats to concentration camps.
Weidel, in turn, pointed to the millions of people killed by the communists and under leaders like Soviet dictator, Josef Stalin, accusing Wagenknecht of once supporting such regimes.
She was part of The Left, a hard-left descendant of the party that once ruled East Germany.
“You were running after these people,’’ Weidel said.
She went on to accuse Wagenknecht of having “emulated’’ Stalin, a claim that Wagenknecht denied.
German voters go to the polls on February 23, to elect a new parliament.
Weidel’s AfD party holds second place with around 20 per cent in the polls, while Wagenknecht’s BSW party hopes to surpass the 5 per cent.
Threshold generally needed to secure seats in the Bundestag, or lower house of parliament.
