As of: February 15, 2024, 5:12 a.m
By: Leonie Hudelmaier
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Sahra Wagenknecht's first political appearance as the new party leader takes her to Lower Bavaria.
Ash Wednesday quickly becomes an election campaign event.
The message: Germany first.
Passau – The change is still difficult.
Klaus Ernst actually wants to talk about the left.
Just as he was trying to figure out why she was feeling “so bad,” he suddenly said “my party.”
He quickly adds “my ex-party” and vows to improve.
Since October 2023, the new political home of the Bavarian member of the Bundestag has been the Alliance Sahra Wagenknecht (BSW).
It wasn't even three weeks ago that the alliance officially formed a party.
And the namesake is now venturing onto the political stage in Lower Bavaria.
Advertising in Bavaria: BSW needs signatures for the European elections
The first BSW Ash Wednesday was knitted with a pretty hot needle.
The large venues were already fully booked.
The Gasthaus Öller is located 15 minutes by bus from the center of Passau, somewhere to the left of the Danube.
And yet people are already lining up to get in, all the way around the street corner.
The 180 seats inside are not enough for everyone.
That's why there is a live broadcast in the winter garden - with mulled wine being served.
So it's not a classic Ash Wednesday with a beer mood and traditional costumes.
Only the brass band reminds you that you are in Bavaria.
Wagenknecht's mission is election campaigning.
It's about every single vote.
There are forms for signatures on the tables so that the BSW can take part in the European elections on June 9th.
BSW party leader Sahra Wagenknecht arrives in Passau during Political Ash Wednesday.
© Lukas Barth/dpa
The people came from Munich, Nuremberg, Vienna.
To get to know the new party.
And to admire their leadership figure.
Some are even attending a Political Ash Wednesday for the first time.
It becomes clear: Wagenknecht is the linchpin of this party.
Knowing full well, her name is the party logo.
The interest of those present is also based on their disappointment with other parties.
They speak of answers to the questions of peace and the concerns of “ordinary people”.
Wagenknecht against aid to Ukraine: “We need the money here in the country”
Wagenknecht takes exactly this approach.
“These arms deliveries are pure madness,” she says of German support for Ukraine.
“We need the money here in the country – for good pensions, for good health care, for proper infrastructure.” An equation in which she pits foreign policy against domestic political interests.
Tenor: What is happening in Ukraine is not directly our problem.
Wagenknecht jokes that the Russians are at the door is essentially a “primal fear of the Germans”.
It is nonsense that an army “that was not in a position to take Kiev” would soon conquer Berlin or even invade “here in beautiful Bavaria”.
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Their criticism is aimed primarily at supporters of a tough course towards Russia.
About the Bavarian Bundestag member Anton Hofreiter (Greens), Wagenknecht says: “I always wonder where these former conscientious objectors get their precise military knowledge from.”
And the FDP European candidate calls her “Marie-Agnes Strack-Rheinmetall”.
The traffic light is not only the stupidest, but also “the most dangerous government in Europe”.
Wagenknecht blames traffic light coalition for AfD boom
Wagenknecht ridicules gender and the “abstract demonstration against right-wing extremism”.
There needs to be a lot more talk about who made the AfD so big.
For them it is clear: the traffic light coalition.
At some point between criticism of health care, the heating law and energy policy, Wagenknecht's speech only resembles a party political fundamental criticism - without any big laughs.
A man dozed off in the corner.
But in the end, people from outside stream into the restaurant to catch a glimpse of Sahra Wagenknecht.
She signs books and poses for selfies.
Election campaign in Lower Bavaria.
(Leonie Hudelmaier)