Overview
- In a WELT-TV interview, Alice Weidel likened Germany’s domestic intelligence service to the Stasi, called staff "schmierige Stasi-Spitzel," and made personal remarks about Stephan Kramer’s appearance and an alleged biker association.
- Thuringia’s Verfassungsschutz president Stephan Kramer told Handelsblatt the comments constituted a mockery of Stasi victims and an effort to delegitimize the security agency.
- Kramer argued the service operates under the rule of law to protect the free democratic order and rejected any equivalence with the GDR’s repressive secret police.
- He said the personal attacks were intended to silence opponents, intimidate people, and spread a climate of fear.
- The Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution’s May move to classify the AfD as a confirmed right-wing extremist endeavor remains on hold due to an AfD lawsuit, while several state branches carry such designations or are treated as suspicion cases.