Holocaust survivor, 99, to return German award over far-right role in parliamentary vote
Holocaust survivor, 99, to return German award over far-right role in parliamentary vote
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An anti-migration motion brought by the main opposition conservatives – the CDU – was passed with support from the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD). A 99-year-old Holocaust survivor has said he will return his federal order of merit award to the German state in protest over a parliamentary vote in which support from the far-right was used for the first time to secure a majority.
Germany's main opposition conservatives – the CDU – who are tipped to win a national election later this month, pushed through parliament on Wednesday a motion calling for a drastic crackdown on migration with the help of votes from the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD).
Though the motion is non-binding, the AfD's role in passing it was symbolically important. Critics have accused the conservatives of breaking a taboo among mainstream parties against working with the AfD. Albrecht Weinberg told Reuters he would return his decoration as a protest against the vote. Born to a Jewish family in 1925, Weinberg spent time during World War Two in the Nazi death camps at Auschwitz and Bergen-Belsen. He was freed on April 15, 1945, according to the Bergen-Belsen memorial website. He emigrated to the United States after the war but returned 10 years ago to live in Germany. Some six million Jews were killed in the Holocaust.
It comes as former German chancellor Angela Merkel also hit out at her own CDU party for cooperating with the far-right. Ms Merkel criticised CDU leader Friedrich Merz over the migration proposal being backed by the AfD, which is polling in second place ahead of the German election on 23 February.
