The number of AfD deputies in the Bundestag has continued to fall. Lars Herrmann is the fourth parliamentarian to leave the parliamentary group. The 42-year-old worked as chief commissioner for the federal police until he moved into the Bundestag.
The official, who also left the party, had previously explained his move in a conversation with the two parliamentary group leaders Alexander Gauland and Alice Weidel. "He explained his motives in a personal interview. We will explain his decision at the next parliamentary assembly. We ask you to refrain from speculation," says the letter to the AfD parliamentary group, which is available to SPIEGEL.
Gauland and Weidel regretted the move "very", as the letter continues. With Herrmann you lose "a committed and hardworking colleague who has represented the parliamentary group in numerous committees".
Herrmann has long been considered a critic of the national-ethnic "wing" network around the Thuringian AfD country and faction leader Björn Höcke. At the recent federal party congress in Braunschweig, he had asked Höcke to run for one of the three deputy posts in the federal party. But Höcke refused. With his proposal, Herrmann had tried to challenge the far right in the party - in the hope that he would not get a majority at the delegates' conference.
During the course of Wednesday Herrmann told dpa and later SPIEGEL that he had been excluded from the Bundestag in the Bundestag because of criticism of the Thuringian AfD chairman Björn Höcke without having been heard. "That was the time for me to say that nothing holds me here anymore. With their decision they made it easy for me to say goodbye," he told SPIEGEL.
Herrmann was assigned to the so-called moderate camp in the AfD. He was once one of the supporters of the Saxon AfD politician and party leader Frauke Petry, who had left the party together with Mario Mieruch after the right-wing populists entered the Bundestag in autumn 2017 and who have been sitting in the Bundestag as non-attached MPs since then. AfD MP Uwe Kamann also left the parliamentary group and party about a year ago. After Herrmann left the Bundestag, 90 AfD deputies still belong to the Bundestag.
Official justification of the AfD group: Seehofers politics
The AfD group officially justified the departure of the official, who had been a part of the party since spring 2013, with the new course by Federal Minister of the Interior Horst Seehofer. The previous day, the CSU politician had announced that the constitutional protection staff would be better equipped in the fight against right-wing extremism. AfD parliamentary press spokesman Christian Lüth wrote in a statement on Wednesday that it was assumed "that the pressure from Horst Seehofer on officials - in his case police officers - had an effect". This "illegal harassment" is unfortunate, "especially since the AfD is doing everything it can to support officials exposed to harassment."
Herrmann told dpa and later SPIEGEL on Wednesday that the press conference held by Federal Minister of the Interior Horst Seehofer (CSU) together with the Office for the Protection of the Constitution (BfV) and the Federal Criminal Police Office (BKA) on the previous day was also decisive for him. These would have classified the "wing" as right-wing extremist. Herrmann said: "As a civil servant - even if my civil service relationship is currently suspended - I also have duties. He wanted to continue to focus on internal security issues and the work of his colleagues until the end of the legislative period as a non-attached MP.
When asked whether he would now work with the former AfD MPs Petry, Mieruch and Kamann in the Bundestag, he told SPIEGEL: "I can only speak for myself, but I do not believe that we four alumni make a political new start in politics Parliament will start. " According to the seating arrangement, he and the three ex-colleagues will sit behind the AfD group.
New staff for the protection of the constitution
Horst Seehofer presented his plans for a reorganization of the authorities together with the heads of the Office for the Protection of the Constitution and the Federal Criminal Police Office (BKA) on Tuesday. According to Seehofer, the BKA and the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution should each get 300 additional jobs that are "very specifically intended to combat right-wing extremism".
The Office for the Protection of the Constitution, Thomas Haldenwang, had pointed out that in addition to the well-known structures such as parties and comradeships, the new rights are increasingly being targeted. He called the "Identitarian Movement" as well as the "Young Alternative" and the "Wing" network in the AfD, which have been listed as "suspected cases" in the field of right-wing extremism since this spring. A new department will be set up at the Federal Office for these organizations.
Haldenwang also referred to the central office for cases of right-wing extremism in the public service that was set up in the summer. Obviously, these are isolated cases - but it still has to be checked whether there are also networks.