As of: January 30, 2024, 6:15 a.m
By: Maximilian Gang
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Split
The concept of “remigration” is not new.
But now it has moved from the back rooms into the center of society.
This is dangerous, says an ex-Nazi.
Berlin – “From the perspective of right-wing extremists, the change, the longed-for day X that they dream of, is within reach,” says Axel Reitz in an interview with
IPPEN.MEDIA
.
The 41-year-old knows the neo-Nazi scene and its goals very well because: He was one of them.
Once known as “Hitler of Cologne”, he has been involved in extremism prevention since his retirement in 2012.
Reitz knows what extremists mean by terms like “remigration,” what meaning the concept has for them and how serious they are about their deportation plans.
After their secret meeting with AfD officials, he warns: “Now it’s no longer just a fantasy.”
Ex-Nazi Axel Reitz: “Remigration” is just a more demanding “foreigner out”
“The concept of 'remigration' is basically just a more sophisticated 'foreigner out',” explains Reitz.
Many of the right-wing extremists sense a conspiracy in their crude worldview: "Supporters see the fabric of the people threatened, believe that a 'great exchange' planned by sinister powers is underway and that the German people will therefore cease to exist."
From their perspective, cultural spaces are linked to “blood and soil” – a central aspect of Nazi ideology and thoroughly racist.
For them, people with a migration background, no matter how supposedly “German” they are, cannot be part of Germany per se.
Nowadays, Nazi dropout Axel Reitz is committed to preventing extremism.
© Hans-Juergen Bauer
For right-wing extremists, the plans behind terms such as “remigration” or “ethnopluralism” are of central importance.
“The concept is in the DNA of all right-wing extremists.
And it sometimes unites radicals and populists with extremists and neo-Nazis.”
As early as the 1980s, the neo-Nazi leader Michael Kühnen fantasized about wanting to make Langen in southern Hesse the “first foreigner-free city in Germany”.
The NPD later unsuccessfully wooed voters with a “repatriation program”.
And now: AfD officials are again discussing expulsion goals with right-wing extremists.
Correctiv revelations about “remigration”: From the back room to the center of society
However, the
Correctiv
revelations move into a new dimension: “So far we have been very lucky that such ideas have not found their way into the discourse.”
Until a few years ago, this was only discussed in the back room.
But among the guests in Potsdam were not only neo-Nazis, but also people from the middle of society: entrepreneurs, doctors, lawyers - and members of a party that could even become the strongest force in the coming state elections in East Germany.
In other words, actors who could immensely advance the inhumane goals of the right-wing extremists.
Axel Reitz (l), here before his exit, at a neo-Nazi march in Berlin in 2005. © Christian Ditsch/Imago
If such radical right-wing ideologies gain influence in Germany, it could have dramatic consequences for millions of people.
In addition to people with a migration background, right-wing extremists could also focus on people who think differently, Reitz is convinced
:
“When I look at AfD demos today, members of the Young Alternative are shouting sentences that I still remember from my time as a neo-Nazi.
For example, 'If you don't love Germany, you should leave Germany'."
Translated, this means: “Anyone who is not with us is our enemy and can disappear with us.”
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Ex-Nazi: AfD is already deeply imbued with the ideas of the right-wing extremists
But how do right-wing extremists imagine this “disappearance”?
The classic neo-Nazi fantasizes about a revival of the Third Reich.
“In the morning, state-authorized thugs kick in the door and take people away.”
Right-wing extremists, who are not neo-Nazis and may not even consider themselves extreme, are often representatives of “longer-term programs” to systematically exclude, disenfranchise and ultimately remove people from society.
For example, they are forbidden from purchasing property or sending their children to school - thereby gradually exerting psychological pressure.
Axel Reitz
Axel Wolfgang Reitz was born on January 10, 1983 in Dormagen.
He came into contact with the right-wing extremist scene at an early age.
At the age of 13 he contacted the NPD and later joined the party.
Over time he developed into a key word provider and later a cadre and propagandist for various right-wing extremist comrades.
Reitz had a significant influence on the development of neo-Nazi structures in West Germany.
The media gave him the nickname “Hitler of Cologne”.
In 2012, Reitz turned his back on right-wing extremism and turned to a state exit program.
It was said at the time that he had reached a “political and personal dead end”.
Since then he has been involved in extremism prevention and gives lectures and workshops on the topic of deradicalization.
His book “I was the Hitler of Cologne: My way out of the neo-Nazi scene and how extremism can be effectively combated” was published in 2023.
Source: Extremislos eV
After the reporting, the AfD itself tried to downplay the secret meeting as a “private meeting” without party political implications.
Party leader Alice Weidel described the
Correctiv
journalists as “activists” who used “GDR methods” for research.
Reitz doesn't buy it, but rather there is a calculation behind it: "Many voters only deal with the AfD superficially and easily overlook how deeply the entire party is now permeated by ideas that are nationalistic, racist, misanthropic, totalitarian, illiberal, undemocratic, in short they are right-wing extremists.”
(mg)