In 2017, Hohm misplaced his job as an aide for the AfD parliamentary group within the jap state of Brandenburg after he was noticed at a soccer sport for FC Energie Cottbus, a crew in Germany’s third division that on the time attracted right-wing extremist hooligans recognized for chanting Nazi slogans and performing Hitler salutes within the stands. Hohm was seen at one sport among the many hooligans sitting beside a then-leader of Germany’s Identitarian Motion, which was ultimately designated a right-wing extremist group by the federal home intelligence company.
However his exclusion from the AfD didn’t final lengthy, and Hohm quickly acquired a job as an assistant to an AfD nationwide parliamentarian. Final 12 months he himself was elected to the Brandenburg state parliament.
When requested about his connections to Identitarian figures, Hohm took situation with their classification as extremist.
“The query is at all times: How do you outline extremism?” Hohm mentioned. “There’s the definition utilized by the media or home intelligence service, which says that the Identitarian Motion, for instance, is right-wing extremist. However in addition they say that the AfD is right-wing extremist. And I don’t consider that both.”
Hohm and others now see the brand new youth wing as a recruitment engine that may equip the AfD leaders of tomorrow with the political savvy they’ll have to take energy and maintain it — partially by making such ideological views palatable to mainstream voters.
What would grandma assume?
AfD youth activists have change into more and more influential lately, attracting younger voters with on-line campaigns which have made once-fringe concepts mainstream. Final 12 months, for example, some activists created a viral AI-generated video for “Remigration Hit,” a far-right dance observe that requires the deportation of migrants from Germany.
