Coming to terms with the case surrounding Bavaria’s deputy head of government Hubert Aiwanger and an anti-Semitic leaflet from his school days is before the decisive climax: the Bavarian Prime Minister Markus Soder (CSU) wants to hold a press conference at short notice on Sunday morning. The State Chancellery invited people to attend at 11 a.m. “due to current events,” as the invitation said.
➤ Hitler salute, anti-Semitism: here you can read what Aiwanger is accused of
Söder’s decision on whether or not to fire the Economy Minister a month before the October 8 state elections is eagerly awaited. The Free Voters leader recently had to respond in writing to Söder’s extensive list of questions about the allegations. Söder announced in advance that he would then make a final assessment.
Aiwanger went on the counteroffensive
New charges were brought against Aiwanger over the course of a week. On Saturday a week ago, he initially denied in writing that he had written an anti-Semitic pamphlet when he was at school, which the “Süddeutsche Zeitung” had reported on. At the same time, he admitted that “one or a few copies” were found in his school backpack. Shortly afterwards, Aiwanger’s older brother declared that he had written the pamphlet.
On Thursday, Aiwanger publicly apologized for the first time. As far as the allegations go, he stood by his previous statements – in particular that he did not write the leaflet and that he did not remember giving the Hitler salute when he was a student. About He did not comment on other allegations or say that he could neither deny them nor confirm them from memory.
At the same time, the leader of the Free Voters counterattacked, complaining about a political campaign against him and his party – which immediately brought him new accusations from the Central Council of Jews, for example.