The conservative Christian Democratic Union (CDU) is not happy with a new protest stunt unfolding on its doorstep.
Leading members of Germany’s ruling party have reacted angrily after the political art-activist group Center for Political Beauty (ZPS) erected a life-size bronze statue of the late CDU politician Walter Lübke outside its party headquarters, the Konrad Adenauer Building, in Berlin last week. The monument was erected to protest against the CDU’s alleged acceptance of racist politics and to warn against its possible cooperation with the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD).
Lübke, a local CDU leader in the state of Hesse, was shot dead by an AfD supporter in 2019 as he became a figure of hatred for Germany’s far-right at the height of Germany’s refugee crisis. At a town hall meeting in 2015, he gave a speech defending the government’s policy on taking in Syrian refugees.
Four years later he was shot in the head on the porch of his home by far-right extremist Stephen E., who had seen Lübke speak and, according to the investigation, Time The newspaper, donated to the AfD in the state of Thuringia.
Exploitation or commemoration?
Lübke’s statue has been erected on a small section of public ground next to the CDU building, along with a bench and an information board with an audio feature that tells the story of his life in German, English and Spanish. The local authority in Berlin has given the monument permission to remain there for two years. CDU headquarters did not respond to DW’s request for comment on the monument.
In a YouTube video about the action, the ZPS drew clear parallels to how conservatives enabled the rise of Adolf Hitler’s National Socialists in the early 1930s and how the CDU is reportedly emulating the policies of the AfD.
The main reaction from leading CDU figures has been outrage. At an event in Berlin, Chancellor Friedrich Merz described the monument as “completely tasteless” and Berlin’s CDU mayor, Kai Wegner, made a similar point.
Wagner social media platform
The ZPS said it was disappointed by the reaction: “Of course we had hoped… that at some point one of the CDU’s top officials would have come out of the glass Konrad Adenauer building and looked at it or laid flowers,” ZPS spokesman Tobias von Laubenthal told DW.
But, von Laubenthal said, the response from German civil society was overwhelmingly positive. “The question we were asking ourselves was why the CDU didn’t do something to honor the memory of Walter Lübke years ago,” he told DW. “It’s something that has surprised a lot of people.”
“This was a man with clear lines, and when those red lines were crossed, such as when it came to far-right extremism, he took a very clear stance,” von Laubenthal said. “He was a man with an attitude that we lack in the CDU today.”
Lübke became one of the most prominent politically motivated assassinations in recent German history, marking the first time that an elected leader had been assassinated by a right-wing extremist since the end of World War II.
At least one prominent former CDU leader has defended the crackdown against attacks from the party. “I wonder what this ‘exploitation’ involves?” Michelle Friedman said in a speech at the memorial’s inauguration last Friday.
Friedman, who has also hosted a DW talk show, was a member of the CDU’s leadership board in the 1990s and left the party earlier this year in protest at its alleged right-wing leanings. “Remembering such a person is not exploitation, it is an expression of respect, honor and gratitude,” he said in his speech.
Luebke family’s ambiguous reaction
According to Berlin media reports, the local authority that approved the monument was told by ZPS that Lübke’s family had already been made aware of the concept, and had made no objection.
But Lübke’s family said they were not consulted. Lübke’s widow, Irmgard Braun-Lübke, and her children wrote in a statement to the media, “Putting a letter in our mailbox the day before the construction of the monument cannot be considered participation.” “That’s not enough information or participation.”
Nevertheless, the family also said they supported the message of the action and said they were grateful to all those who remembered their father and husband in an “honest, appreciative and respectful way.”
He said, “No matter what Democratic party, there must remain a firewall against the right; it cannot be tolerated.”
Although Irmgard Braun-Lübke is quite reluctant to appear in public, she has criticized the CDU leadership in the past. In February this year, she reacted with some irritation to a comment made by Merz about protesters during an election campaign event in Munich, shortly after the Chancellor said, “I would like to ask everyone there, antifa and right-wing opposition: where were you when Walter Lübke was murdered by a right-wing extremist in Kassel?”
Braun-Lübke said, “Contrary to his account, there was actually strong broad public support for our democracy and its values after my husband’s assassination.” “Thousands of citizens – whether leftists, liberals, or conservative democrats – took to the streets in Wolfhagen, Kassel, and many other places in Germany.”
CDU and AfD: a complicated relationship
Although Merz has repeatedly vowed not to allow her party to cooperate with the AfD, doubts are growing over whether the CDU’s “firewall” will hold up, given the AfD’s growing strength and the far-right party looking set to emerge as the strongest party in upcoming state elections.
The CDU has in the past been seen cooperating with the AfD at state level. In January this year, Merz – who was still the opposition leader – caused a wave of outrage by putting forward a motion
Pushing curbs on immigration through parliament with the support of the AfD. The Chancellor has also often been accused of using racist rhetoric and fear-mongering, like far-right parties.
The ZPS first made headlines in 2017 when it erected a replica of a Berlin monument commemorating the massacre outside the home of AfD politician Björn Hocke. This was a reference to Hocke’s controversial speech at a party event, where he said it was wrong for Germany to remember the Holocaust and called the memorial to the murdered Jews of Europe in Berlin a “monument of shame”.
Edited by Reena Goldenberg
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