Commenting on today’s judgement by the Federal Constitutional Court on the statement by former Federal Chancellor Merkel on the election of the Minister-President in Thuringia with votes from the CDU, the FDP and the AfD, Christoph Heubner, Executive Vice President of the International Auschwitz Committee stressed:

"Survivors of the Holocaust were and always will be very grateful to Angela Merkel for her unequivocal stance towards the AfD. She has never left any doubt about the fact that cooperation between the parties of the democratic spectrum and the AfD is ‘unforgivable’. Her characterization of the election of Mr Kemmerich as Minister-President of the Free State of Thuringia with the votes of the CDU, the FDP and the AfD as ‘unforgivable’ actually strengthened the trust and confidence in Germany at a time when politicians in Erfurt had decisively damaged this trust with their disastrous voting behaviour. It can only be hoped that this unequivocal stance on the part of the democratic parties towards the AfD is upheld at all political levels."