Bavarian Deputy Premier Hubert Aiwanger (Freie Wähler, Renew Europe) says he did not write a pamphlet mocking the Holocaust that was found in his school bag when he was a 17-year-old student.
During Aiwanger’s 1987/88 school year, a disciplinary committee punished him for a pamphlet distributed at the school, Süddeutsche Zeitung reported, citing several anonymous sources.
The pamphlet, pictured by Süddeutsche, describes a fictional competition entitled “Who is the biggest traitor to his country?” with the first-place prize being “a free flight through the chimney of Auschwitz” ‐ the Nazi concentration camp where over 1.1 million mostly Jewish people were killed, and which the pamphlet referred to as an “entertainment district”.
But Aiwanger denies he was the author of the pamphlet.
“I did not write the paper in question and consider the content disgusting and inhuman,” Aiwanger wrote in a statement released Saturday afternoon.
“The author of the paper is known to me. He will explain himself,” he added.
“As a then underage pupil, one or a few copies were found in my school bag,” Aiwanger added. “As a result, I was summoned to the headmaster’s office.”
Later on Saturday, Aiwanger’s older brother Helmut came forward and told Mediengruppe Bayern that he wrote the pamphlet and regretted the action.
Bavaria is currently in election campaign mode, with state elections on 8 October.
Aiwanger, the state’s economy minister and deputy prime minister, came under scrutiny for his populist rhetoric earlier this year when he called on the “silent majority” to “reclaim democracy” at a demonstration in June.
MEPs stand with Aiwanger
Aiwanger is also the federal chairman of the Freie Wähler (FW), a liberal-conservative party with strong support in Bavaria.
Aiwanger’s party currently has two members with seats in the European Parliament, Engin Eroglu and Ulrike Müller, who are part of the Renew Europe group.
Asked by EURACTIV about the accusations, both MEPs referred to statements made by senior Freie Wähler politicians that Aiwanger had “credibly assured that he was not the author of the vile pamphlet.”
Müller also took part in a leadership meeting of Freie Wähler Bavaria on Saturday afternoon, in which Aiwanger had explained himself, her office told EURACTIV.
“As Mr Eroglu is currently in his own state election campaign, it is unfortunately not possible for him to make a personal statement,” a party spokesperson told EURACTIV on Sunday. Eroglu is the leader of the Freie Wähler party in the German state of Hesse, where state elections will also be held on 8 October.
On Saturday morning, Bavarian Premier Markus Söder (CSU/EPP) called upon his deputy premier to clear up the accusations.
“There are terrible accusations in the room. This flyer is inhumane and downright disgusting,” Söder told journalists.
In previous statements, Söder had repeatedly said he wanted to continue the two-party coalition with Aiwanger’s Freedom Party at the state level.
(Jonathan Packroff | EURACTIV.de)
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