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Beringia

(4,316 posts) Fri Dec 13, 2019, 07:50 PM Dec 2019

German mayor sued for refusing handshake with neo-Nazi politician

https://www.thelocal.de/20191208/german-mayor-sued-for-refusing-handshake-with-neo-nazi-politician

Katja Wolf, mayor of the town of Eisenach in the central German state of Thuringia, has been sued by a member of her city council for refusing to shake his hand. Patrick Wieschke, a member of the far-right NPD who has been convicted of neo-Nazi activities, has taken Wolf to court. But instead of agitating for her dismissal or pushing for financial compensation, Wieschke is arguing that the mayor should be forced to shake his hand.

Wieschke has a history of violence, including being convicted of bombing a kebab shop as well as being detained on suspicion of child sexual abuse. Wieschke remains an influential politician in the region, having received 4600 votes in the May election - around 10 percent of the total vote.

Wolf, a member of the left-wing Die Linke party, says she is confident that the law is on her side. Wolf told Der Spiegel that to force someone to shake the hand of someone with Wieschke’s beliefs would be unconstitutional. “With every fibre of his being, Mr. Wieschke is a racist, anti-constitutional right-wing radical,” she said.

Wolf said that she - along with all other Germans - had a responsibility not to obey unjust laws and to normalise the neo-Nazi presence on the council, or anywhere else in society. “The Weimar Republic did not fail because of the right-wing radical minority. It was the silent democratic majority,” she said. “That is why there must be no normality with enemies of the constitution - and that is also why I call for the abolition of this outdated handshake rule.”

Patrick Wieschke is on the far right of the line