Son of Willy Brandt: Matthias Brandt: Name the stupidity of right-wing radicalism

More than 80 years after the assassination attempt on Adolf Hitler, actor and Chancellor's son Matthias Brandt warns against a fearful exaggeration of right-wing extremism. "Yes, there is a certain fear-based demonization of right-wing radicalism," the 63-year-old responded in an interview with "Der Spiegel" when asked about a hesitant approach to the AfD. "That is wrong and dangerous because it exaggerates it. The focus must be on naming its simplicity and stupidity."

In the spring, the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution upgraded the AfD to a "confirmed right-wing extremist endeavor." The party is fighting back legally, so the classification is temporarily on hold.

Brandt will deliver a speech at the commemoration of the 81st anniversary of the assassination attempt on Hitler by the resistance group led by Claus Schenk Graf von Stauffenberg on Sunday in Berlin. He is the son of the first SPD Federal Chancellor, Willy Brandt (1969-1974). Brandt fled Nazi Germany in 1933 to escape persecution. From Norway, the young man, born Herbert Ernst Karl Frahm, then worked against the Nazi regime under the alias Willy Brandt.

Matthias Brandt told Der Spiegel: "For a long time, I considered it unthinkable that a right-wing extremist party like the AfD could one day become the strongest political force." He added: "But I feel like we're still stuck in a kind of paralysis because we're not used to dealing with such forces." This, he said, is perhaps the crucial difference from people like his parents. "They were simply more familiar with right-wing extremists and were remarkably unafraid."

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