After the vote on a Union’s proposal with AfD votes in the German Bundestag on Wednesday, publicist Michel Friedman highlighted the importance of maintaining distance from the AfD. We are “engaged in a great struggle as to whether democracies will continue to exist or authoritarian countries will emerge” Friedman said in the ARD’s “Tagesthemen” on Thursday, after leaving the CDU after over 40 years of membership.
In Germany, “a party of hate is on the move, a party that tramples on democracy” the publicist said. This party, the AfD, “says the dignity of man is touchable and as for who these people are, so the AfD, ‘we’ll decide again’ added Friedman.
This is the “counter-model to what we wanted to build after Hitler and the Shoah.” Every party must be mindful, Friedman warned, “to keep the windows closed, so this party does not become a part of a political, democratic process.” “The CDU/CSU missed this yesterday” he added, his family having suffered significant losses in the Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camp.
“The end justifies not the means” the publicist said. “The distance between democrats and non-democrats is important, as it offers an orientation.