Overview
- Roughly 70% of participants in a local referendum voted to keep the money, with a turnout of about one-third and more than 700 ballots cast.
- The contribution was a private gift from Hans-Christoph Berndt, the AfD parliamentary group leader in Brandenburg, whose name appeared in a festival flyer alongside other donors.
- Brandenburg’s domestic intelligence agency classifies Berndt as a right-wing extremist, a status that triggered protests and a months-long dispute in the town.
- Mayor Andrea Schulz said there is no clear legal basis for rejecting donations from individuals under observation, so the council turned to a citizen vote for this case.
- The civic initiative “Golßen für alle” criticized keeping the funds, while an RBB consultant, Olaf Sundermeyer, labeled Berndt an extremist and warned of growing normalization of such actors.