Provocative statement about Merz: Stauffenberg’s grandson reprimands cabaret artists after AfD appearance
A grandson of the Hitler assassin Claus Schenk, Count of Stauffenberg sharply criticized cabaret artist Uwe Steimle’s mention of his grandfather at an AfD event. “I’m speechless. This is misrepresentation of history par excellence,” said Karl Graf von Stauffenberg to “Bild”. His grandfather tried to “restore law, order and freedom” – and now this. “My grandfather is being dragged into the mud – it’s absolutely horrible.”
Steimle said at the event in Dessau-Roßlau in Saxony-Anhalt: “If I Friedrich Merz I sometimes ask myself, where is Stauffenberg when you really need him.”
Claus Schenk Graf von Stauffenberg was a German Wehrmacht colonel and the central head of the military resistance against Adolf Hitler. He is best known for the failed bomb attempt on Hitler on July 20, 1944.
The Stauffenberg grandson told “Bild”: “You can think whatever you want of Mr. Merz. But to equate him with Adolf Hitler is really bad.” This is a “trivialization of the Third Reich”.
Public prosecutor’s office is investigating
According to Steimle’s statements about Merz and also the former Chancellor Angela Merkel (both CDU), the Dessau-Roßlau public prosecutor’s office initiated investigations against the cabaret artist. A spokeswoman said that proceedings had been initiated under Section 126 of the Criminal Code. This involves disturbing the public peace by threatening to commit crimes.
About the new portrait of Merkel for the Chancellor’s Gallery in the government headquarters, Steimle said that the Christian Democrat had decided to depict her standing “because she suspects that she will soon be sitting.” He added: “It’s hanging at the moment.” And if the nail breaks, “we’ll put it against the wall. So we’ll come up with something.”
The AfD event a few weeks before the state elections in Saxony-Anhalt also made headlines because, on Steimle’s initiative, the GDR national anthem was sung there before it ended with the national anthem of the Federal Republic.
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