Brandenburg SPD district administrator: “The Hofreiters in this country are poisoning the climate through public denunciations.”
Katrin Lange affair: Greens accuse the Interior Minister of being pro-Putin. Gernot Schmidt says in an interview: People with dissenting views like her are marginalized and belittled.
Katrin Lange, the SPD's interior minister in Brandenburg , has fired her head of the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution after he labeled the AfD as "certainly right-wing extremist," and the controversy is mounting. Green Party politicians are criticizing not only her, but also the Brandenburg SPD. Interior Minister Lange is turning a blind eye, says Green Party leader Felix Banaszak. Anton Hofreiter speaks of "pro-Putin forces within the SPD that are particularly strong in Brandenburg" and should not continue to hinder the fight against the anti-democratic AfD. There are calls for Lange's resignation, including from the Left Party.
Lange's party colleague Gernot Schmidt , 63, district administrator in Märkisch-Oderland, is now launching a counterattack. In a telephone interview with the Berliner Zeitung, he criticizes Lange's critics, explains why he believes the expulsion of the constitutional chief was right, and opposes a ban on the AfD.
District Administrator Schmidt: “People from the GDR are very sensitive about this”Mr. Schmidt, Green Party politician Anton Hofreiter has accused the Brandenburg SPD of being pro-Putin. What do you say to that?
This is a frontal attack against the Brandenburg SPD and demonstrates the fundamental attitude of people who believe they have a monopoly on political truth. East Germans, who are familiar with this kind of behavior from the GDR, are very sensitive to this. This kind of polemic has already led to the Greens and the Left no longer being represented in the state parliament here.
Which way do you mean?
Katrin Lange opposes a ban on the AfD; she wants to fight the party with liberal, democratic, and constitutional means. This is why she is now being denounced as right-wing and pro-Putin. This is a denunciation of people who think differently and destroys trust in democracy. Dissenters are excluded and belittled. Because Katrin Lange is a woman, she also lacks the inhibition to bite, I must say that quite clearly.
Were you surprised that Katrin Lange fired the head of the Brandenburg Office for the Protection of the Constitution?
I've known Katrin Lange for a long time, I respect her greatly, and I'm astonished by the accusations people like her make. A political official like the head of the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution holds an outstanding position, but also has a special relationship with his minister. Trust plays a very important role in this. If Lange wasn't properly informed about this important matter for weeks, her decision is correct.
Would you have decided the same?
I'm not part of the agency, and I don't know the exact procedures. It's not my area of expertise either. But I object to someone being denounced simply because they have different views. It shows the deep rift we have in this country, between those who experienced something like this before, during the GDR era, and those in the old federal states who are trying to make denunciations part of the mainstream discourse. This has the opposite effect: people drift even further into political camps. It's about how we deal with extremist currents in society.
District Administrator Gernot Schmidt: “Then it is no longer a democracy”How do you think this should be dealt with?
I think you have to fight with arguments. And I ask myself: If you ban a party that is voted for by 30 percent, and that is also ahead of the Greens in Baden-Württemberg, how do you intend to implement this ban? With the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution, with surveillance? That's no longer a liberal, civil democracy. We have to change our policies so that people will vote for us again.
How dangerous is the AfD in Brandenburg in your opinion?
The AfD has a broad spectrum. There are people I would consider right-wing extremists, but also many who come from the middle class and skilled trades and are disappointed with the current democratic class and culture. The centrist parties, the CDU and SPD, have also lost voters because of their policies.
In Saxony-Anhalt, the AfD has just announced #deutschdenken as its state motto and wants to introduce a so-called Pride Pass, a stamp card for visiting sights related to German history. Doesn't that scare you?
Of course. You have to take a clear stand against it, express your opinion, and advocate for a society that upholds values like decency and diversity. You won't achieve anything through bans. That's why we're trying to reach people again.
How do you try to do this?
For example, by preserving the dignity of the victims of the Second World War and not making day-to-day politics about them.
Are you referring to the commemoration of the 80th anniversary of the Battle of Seelow Heights, which the Russian ambassador also attended?
Yes, we did not disinvite the Russian ambassador, as the Foreign Office demanded. We are pursuing a policy that prioritizes diplomacy, not exclusion.
How did the celebrations go?
There was enormous public support, and there is now a massive movement toward peace in the Ukraine war, which is vital and necessary for Europe. For this, it was important that we, in civil society, did not lose contact with Russia beforehand. Ukraine must survive as a state; there can be no dictated peace, because that would bring new waves of refugees, which would burden us at the local level.
Gernot Schmidt: “I’m an old fighting pig, just like Ralf Stegner”Ralf Stegner of the SPD, who recently met with Russian representatives in Baku and now also has to deal with accusations of being a Putin friend, puts it similarly.
I've been accused of this before, even though I've always condemned the aggression in Ukraine, the war as a means of enforcing political interests. All I can say to that is: The Hofreiters in this country aren't engaging with the issue in substance, but are only engaging in hurtful and defamatory language. They're poisoning the climate, which is leading to people becoming increasingly afraid to express their opinions and withdrawing. But that doesn't mean their opinions are dead. People say to me: Mr. District Administrator, you're right in what you're saying, but how do you cope with being constantly attacked?
So, how do you get through this?
I'm an old fighting pig, just like Stegner, and he won't be knocked down that easily either.
And Katrin Lange? She already attracted attention during the state election campaign with her clear statements, saying, alluding to Saskia Esken, that people like her should no longer participate in talk shows.
Ms. Lange comes from Prignitz, is direct, down-to-earth, and advocates for the rural population. Her political analyses have always been accurate. Perhaps this is where the hatred toward her stems.
The Green Party is now running an online campaign against Lange. How are you dealing with it?
We are clearly fighting for our position. Otherwise, we will lose even more voters and become a sect rather than a popular party.
One argument for banning the AfD is that humanity would have been spared a world war and the Holocaust if the NSDAP had been banned in 1932.
That's true, that's a key argument in this discussion. Another is: The supporters of the Weimar democracy attacked each other instead of supporting each other; the atmosphere was heated. Martin Niemöller once said something like: I didn't protest when the communists were taken away, nor when the social democrats were taken away, and when I was taken away, there was no one left to stand up for me. Despite all our differences, we democrats must stand together and discuss different ways of dealing with the AfD, and do so without hatred.
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