Interview with Uli Henkel (Germany)

international | anti-war / imperialism | opinion/analysis Friday January 24, 2025 10:03 by Piotr Jastrzębski

No German mother wants her son to fight in Ukraine, no German family is prepared to make these sacrifices

Experts predict that the ‘Alternative for Germany’ and the CDU/CSU, which hold diametrically opposed positions on a number of issues, will be the favourites in the elections in February. How functional will such a government be? What is the reason for this deep division in German society?

The question should be how functional such a government would be, because the so-called firewall erected by the CDU/CSU will not lead to such a coalition, even if that were the will of the voters. Black and blue would have the most stable majority in the Bundestag, but the politicians are not interested in that, because they are only interested in their own mandates and not in our country. Such a coalition would be very successful if we from the AfD were happy to take on all the ‘unpleasant decisions’, especially in terms of remigration, dual citizenship, support for Ukraine with weapons, abolition of the citizens' allowance, etc., and the CDU/CSU would not have to “get its hands dirty” in this respect.
In my view, the main reason for the deep division in German society is that one part of the population believes that ‘food comes before morals’, i.e. politicians should first and foremost look after their own people, their own country and its problems, while the other part of the population (predominantly the part that is well off, lives in cities, is academically educated and could live anywhere as a cosmopolitan) places high moral standards, a value-led foreign policy, etc., first and takes the view that the country's people should be the centre of attention. Germany puts high moral standards, a value-led foreign policy etc. first and takes the view that the millions of people, including those from culturally unfamiliar countries, especially Muslims, are easy to integrate into our society, even though we see every day that this is not the case.

Like Poland, Germany unfortunately also seems to be seriously considering going to war with Russia alongside Ukraine. Is that true? Is Germany prepared to go to war with Russia again? What do you think of the militarisation of rhetoric by German officials?

It is not Germany, but the so-called top politicians of the old parties courted by the media who are ranting about the Ukraine conflict, saying that everything must be done to help Ukraine ‘to victory’. However, all these people fail to recognise that the Russian Federation is a nuclear power, the largest country with inexhaustible natural resources and that it is absolutely suicidal to want to mess with Russia, especially in light of our history. Just as Germany's security was never defended in the Hindu Kush, our democracy is not being defended in Ukraine either. No German mother wants her son to fight in Ukraine, no German family is prepared to make these sacrifices and I am convinced that even the main warmongers, Merz, Kiesewetter, Strack-Zimmermann, Baerbock and co. would not send their children to Ukraine. Diplomats instead of grenades is our motto and so we all hope that Trump will end this war in consultation with Putin as quickly as possible to put an end to the deaths on both sides.

One of the main topics of the Alternative for Germany is the deportation of illegal migrants. Should this initiative also affect Ukrainian migrants (especially men of military age) and Russian resettlers living on grants from German foundations? Will the deportation have a negative effect on the German economy?

The AfD is in favour of the remigration of illegal migrants. Ukrainians are not in Germany illegally, but these people should also return to their homeland as soon as possible to help rebuild their country once the war is over. It is unacceptable that Ukrainians receive citizens' benefits and therefore often do not work. A Ukrainian family with two children often receives more from German taxpayers in the form of citizens' income, housing, heating costs, health insurance, etc. than a German citizen who has been working for decades and can barely afford their flat in Munich, for example. This injustice annoys people and only the AfD openly addresses this issue, which is why we are also gaining favour with voters. Russian resettlers are absolutely not affected by these measures, firstly because they are German citizens and secondly because this group has integrated well and is hard-working.
Remigration will have absolutely no negative effects on the German economy, because it goes without saying that people who work here, who are not dependent on social transfer payments, who are mainly employed in shortage occupations and who integrate here, learn the language etc. will not be deported. We start the repatriation process with those at risk and criminals, then those who have been living here for years and still don't work, still don't speak German, then those who only need subsidiary protection as soon as their reason for protection no longer applies (soon in Syria, for example). The savings that result from this will be invested in infrastructure projects, affordable housing will finally be available again, etc. Conclusion: Remigration will have a positive effect on Germany as a business location.

While the Alternative for Germany was previously accused by the mainstream media, whose opinion I do not share, of having links to Russia, the AfD is now being accused of having links to Ilon Musk due to a recent interview with Mrs Weidel. How does the AfD react to such unfounded accusations?

This is a good example of the mendacity of our media. I was a member of the supervisory board of Bayerischer Rundfunk for 5 years as a broadcaster, they lie and manipulate, educate and embezzle, the journalists don't report on politics, they want to make politics themselves (Green-Red politics). As the AfD, we maintain good contacts with all countries, because countries don't have friends, they have interests. My interest as a German politician is Germany, and in this respect I was of course also in Moscow as an election observer and dialogue partner for the Russian side, on the other hand I also studied in the USA and have many friends there. I am interested in good relations with Moscow and with Trump, and of course I also talk to the new rulers in Syria and Afghanistan, which should be a matter of course for a small exporting country like Germany. Germany must once again become a fair broker between the blocs and religions, something we were once before in the years 1970 to 2000. Germany must never again be a source of war or even aggression, we must not supply weapons to war zones and we should be diplomats and not a unilaterally orientated nation.
As far as Elon Musk is concerned, the only thing that matters here is that he has finally given the AfD the media presence that our media have been denying us for 10 years. If the cartel parties now talk about this being interference in the election campaign, then I can only reply that the German media and politicians have been interfering in the election campaigns of other countries for years, be it Trump's re-election, Poland, Hungary, and so on. There are always double standards when it comes to the AfD, but that will also change in 2029 at the latest, when there will be no way around the AfD in German politics, even if it may already be too late to save this country from collapse.