Aiwanger: “Our party should get out of the government – and the Greens in”

Hubert Aiwanger spoke in detail about the leaflet affair for the first time in an interview with “Welt”. The Deputy Prime Minister of Bavaria clarifies his statement that he is not an anti-Semite, but a philanthropist – at least as an adult “in the last few decades”. “I formulated that in a way that was misleading in a camera interview between door and hinge. I was never an anti-Semite.”

Aiwanger: “Our party should get out of the government – and the Greens in”

The allegations that he had “Mein Kampf” in his school bag, gave the Hitler salute and made jokes about Jews seemed “extremely dubious” to Aiwanger. He is certain: “I am convinced that the SZ, possibly with the help of other circles, had planned long in advance to massively damage me and destroy me politically.” The free voters were to be weakened and votes relocated. “More specifically: Our party should get out of the government – ​​and the Greens in. If the polls were below 10 percent, this scandal coverage would not have been made.”

Aiwanger says he has often received reports that a teacher is claiming this or that. “As I see it, that was deliberately controlled to keep the topic simmering.” The fact that the German teacher probably wanted to “destroy” him burdened him, he admits.

All current information on the leaflet affair in the Newsticker.

Aiwanger versus “SZ”: “It was clumsy and a bottomless meanness”

However, he did not consider going public and explaining the matter himself. “If I’m honest – I didn’t see any other options.” He and his brother would give a lot to get that out of the world, but “unfortunately that’s no longer possible”.

In an interview, he dissects the allegations that Aiwanger created the anti-Semitic leaflet. “What remains of the allegations is that a sheet or a few sheets of abominable paper were found in my pocket,” says the Free Voters boss. From his point of view, “they apparently lied on purpose and reported on suspicions with serious consequences. And then it was said that there were witnesses – but now there are none.”

The idea that his brother could have written the flyer “apparently the ‘SZ’ never came up with it. They had their sights on me, period. That was clumsy and bottomless meanness,” Aiwanger scolds “Welt”.

“Crude nonsense”: The journalists’ association sharply rejects Aiwanger’s allegations

On Friday, the German Association of Journalists (DJV) sharply rejected Aiwanger’s accusation that the media were using the anti-Semitic flyer from his school days for a political campaign against him. DJV federal chairman Frank Überall described the accusations made by the Freie Wahler boss on Friday in Berlin as “crude nonsense, with which Hubert Aiwanger docks with the conspiracy ideologues”.

It is incomprehensible that Aiwanger, as Vice Prime Minister of a large federal state, does not even have a rudimentary knowledge of journalism and the media, said Überall. It is the task of journalists to be critical
to report on top political personnel, “even if the ladies and gentlemen politicians don’t like it”.

It is of great concern to people whether a politician may have been close to anti-Semitism in his life, said Everywhere. Instead of knitting a campaign accusation, Aiwanger should actively contribute to clarifying the allegations.

Aiwanger can contribute little to the background of the affair

The free voter boss cryptically answers why he didn’t say from the start that his brother had written the leaflet: “At that moment I just didn’t see that I should now provide clarification.” According to his own Statement “Known that they were playing with the wrong cards. So I didn’t want to put everything on the table beforehand.”

Aiwanger has little to say about the background to the leaflet and how it ended up in his backpack. One should ask his brother about the former, he doesn’t remember the latter. Could he rule out having distributed the leaflet? “I don’t remember that anymore.”

Aiwanger explains behavior from 1988: “Then I would have involved my brother”

Aiwanger still knows exactly why he accepted the penalty. “Because at the time it seemed like a relatively easy way out. On the other hand, there was the threat of the police.” He had the leaflet in his pocket, he tells the “Welt”. “I was in trouble anyway. Then I didn’t want to start telling the story now, but the author was the brother.”

In retrospect, he could have acted differently and “save me a lot of trouble,” says the Free Voters boss. “But I would have involved my brother for that. However I would have done it, in retrospect you can see it as wrong.” He doesn’t know whether the search for the author continued in the end.

Yes, it shocked him to read such a pamphlet by his brother, says the deputy prime minister of Bavaria and then puts it into perspective. “At the time he was in a difficult situation, class goal not achieved, separated from class friends.”

Aiwanger answers two questions with just one word each

Aiwanger can understand how Markus Söder dealt with the situation. “For him, this is a necessity to show his will to enlighten. If he said he wasn’t doing anything, he would be in a bind.”

He answers two questions about the future as briefly as possible. Can you hold out until the state elections? “Yes.” And then it goes on with the coalition of CSU and Free Voters? “Yes.”