The leaders of the German far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party and the left-wing Alliance of Sarah Wagenknecht (AWW) party got into a heated confrontation on air on ADR television yesterday, DPA reported, quoted by BTA.
AfD co-chair Alice Weidel and AWW leader Sarah Wagenknecht exchanged sharp phrases that also became personal, as they touched on Weidel's recent conversation with tech billionaire Elon Musk. They then clashed over a controversial remark about the political ideology of former Nazi dictator Adolf Hitler.
Wagenknecht first accused Weidel of failing to engage critically with Musk during a recent live chat on the social media platform "Ex". She described the interaction as "somewhat embarrassing", claiming Weidel seemed to idolize Musk.
Wagenknecht had previously accused Weidel of coming across as a "submissive fan" during the conversation.
Weidel quickly countered, rejecting the "fan" label, saying: "It was a dialogue. I am a supporter of freedom of expression.
The exchange of opinions took on a more serious character, as the two leaders clashed over Weidel's widely discussed remark in her conversation with Musk, in which she called Hitler a communist.
Weidel defended her statement by explaining that there were parallels with communism and socialist systems, claiming that Hitler was "left-wing in spirit".
Wagenknecht described this as an insult to Hitler's victims, noting that Hitler sent thousands of communists and social democrats to concentration camps.
Weidel, in turn, pointed to "the millions of people killed by communists" and under leaders such as Soviet dictator Joseph Stalin, accusing Wagenknecht of once supporting such regimes when she was part of the Left, a hard-left party that is the successor to the party that once ruled East Germany.
"You ran after these people," Weidel said. She accused Wagenknecht of "imitation" of Stalin, a claim that Wagenknecht denied.
German voters go to the polls on February 23 to elect a new parliament.