As of: March 10, 2024, 7:05 p.m
By: Peter Sieben
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22-year-old Leon Walter suddenly has to compete against AfD state leader Björn Höcke in Thuringia.
He will now adapt his election campaign - out of fear of neo-Nazi attacks.
Erfurt/Greiz – Leon Walter still remembers the evening when Björn Höcke’s face suddenly appeared on his cell phone.
The 22-year-old politician was moderating a meeting of Thuringia's left-wing youth when the smartphone buzzed.
“I look at my phone and see a message from a comrade who sent me a screenshot of the newspaper report.
And the question: Is this your constituency?” says Walter.
Thuringia's AfD leader Björn Höcke is running in Greiz: "It's getting a lot more intense now"
The message on the screenshot: Thuringia's AfD leader Björn Höcke is surprisingly not running in his home district of Eichsfeld for the state elections in Thuringia, but in Greiz.
Where Leon Walter lives and runs for the Left.
“It was crazy to read that.
“That’s when my heart sank,” says Walter.
“It was immediately clear to me that this was going to get a lot more intense.”
The left-wing politician Leon Walter surprisingly has to compete against AfD man Björn Höcke in his constituency.
© Christian Seeling
When Höcke shows up, it will indeed be violent.
Anyone who has ever been to an election campaign event for the man who can be called a fascist knows this: figures appear with Reich war flags, people shouting “lying press” and worse.
“Höcke will run an election campaign with AfD people who are active nationwide,” says left-wing politician Walter.
“And he will get support from right-wing extremists from the Nazi milieu, which is very strong here.”
Reich war flags and neo-Nazi songs: right-wing extremists camp in front of refugee accommodation in Gera
You could now see in Gera how strong the Nazi milieu is in East Thuringia.
Around 80 people are camping there in a caravan and pavilion in front of the newly built refugee accommodation.
Burning barrels stand on the site and imperial war flags are hoisted.
This was organized by the Thuringian right-wing extremist Christian Klar.
Witnesses report that songs by the neo-Nazi band “Landser” are being sung.
The protest camp has been registered and the city administration has officially approved it.
A clientele like this worries the young politician.
“There are multipliers for Höcke in this milieu who will intimidate the political competition,” he says.
“It was clear to me from the start that I would experience hostility and physical violence during the election campaign.
I have come to terms with that, I have to say that soberly.” But the fact that he now has to compete directly against Höcke changes everything.
Left-wing politician changes election campaign plans: “Also for my own safety”
“I have my campaign plans and will have to change them a bit now,” explains Walter.
“I will not go to the right in direct confrontation, but will pursue this consistently with my own issues and my own actions.
Also for my own safety.” Does that mean he is also afraid of physical attacks?
“Yes,” says the left-wing politician.
“An example: The AfD is holding a market festival.
You simply have to say: Violent neo-Nazis are not far away at most AfD events.
And then I won’t stand next to it with an information stand, but rather try to talk to people at the front door about their concerns.”
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Walter began to get involved politically as a schoolboy.
He has been a member of the Left or its youth organization for seven years.
There was often hostility in the schoolyard.
“Right-wing extremists come to me and say: If we open Buchenwald again, you will be the first,” he says.
Migration and right-wing identity politics: “Höcke dictates the discourse”
He says he wants to take a stand against the shift to the right in his homeland and is focusing on social issues and the realities of life of the local people in his election campaign.
East Thuringian villages in particular have a problem with aging.
The places are poorly connected to the transport system, a bus trip in Eastern Thuringia quickly becomes an odyssey.
“Why are more and more young people moving away?
Many people have contacted me saying that they no longer see any prospects here.
I want to send a positive vision and show how eastern Thuringia can be made worth living in,” says Walter.
The CDU is sending Christian Tischner into the race in his constituency.
The deputy chairman of the CDU state parliamentary group was able to win the direct mandate for the Greiz II constituency for the second time in 2019.
Walter still thinks he has a chance because his topics stand out.
“Tischner and Höcke will fight over the same issues: migration and right-wing identity politics,” he says.
“Höcke dictates the discourse and Tischner will say the same thing as him, just a little toned down and with a little more local patriotism, so that some people from the middle class are not alienated just yet.” A strategy that he does not want to take part in.