First appearance after apology Aiwanger remains silent about the Auschwitz leaflet
Aschau im Chiemgau (Bavaria) – Will he come or not – that was the exciting question for many Aschau residents. And HE came.
Bavaria's deputy head of government Hubert Aiwanger (52) opened the “Aschauer Markt” folk festival yesterday evening.
At 6:57 p.m. he entered the tent, which was filled to capacity. The crowd roared, cheered and applauded him. Occasional shouts of “Bravo Hubert” could also be heard.
▶︎ At 7:10 p.m. he took the first sip of his beer and put a hop crown on his party colleague Barbara Stein's head. At 7:30 p.m. he took the stage to applause from the audience.
Previously, his “Free Voters” colleague Sepp Lausch lashed out at his boss. “He is the last and only politician who still dares to open his mouth and shows backbone,” he cheered. Aiwanger was happy to take the ball, his commitment: “Dear friends of common sense, welcome here in the beer tent.”
Aiwanger remains silent about the Auschwitz leaflet
▶︎ Striking: Aiwanger does not once address the anti-Semitic hate speech during his approximately 45-minute speech, which is why his political existence is at stake. Not a single syllable.
Instead, a typical Aiwanger campaign speech: against the end of combustion engines, against cannabis, against increases in citizens' allowances, against inheritance tax, against the wolf, against the heat pump. This is where the home-loving Bavarian and farmer scores.
But not everyone in the tent is 100 percent convinced of his speech. A neighbor at the table told the BILD reporter: “Sometimes you wonder what Hubsi was smoking.”
▶︎ The conclusion after 45 minutes of Aiwanger in the Bavarian marquee: Well-known campaign blah blah, but on the topic that interested everyone: disappointing silence from Aiwanger. The enthusiasm also noticeably diminished at the end of his speech. He was allowed to enter his name in the Golden Book of the community of Aschau (approx. 6,000 inhabitants).
And he also received a gift from Lausch: a motorcycle jacket with back protector! Lausch: “You are the last politician with a backbone. The hope of Bavaria.”
Three hours earlier, the “Hope of Bavaria” was a lot more meek when he asked for an apology. More like a heap of misery.
▶︎ At a press release at the Ministry of Economics in Munich, Aiwanger said that he “made mistakes as a young person” that he “deeply regrets.” Aiwanger asked for forgiveness for the Auschwitz leaflet that was found in his pocket while he was at school. His brother claimed to be the author of the leaflet. Aiwanger called the pamphlet “disgusting.”
Regarding the Auschwitz leaflet, Aiwanger said at the press conference: “My sincere apologies go first and foremost to all the victims of the Nazi regime” and to the bereaved families. He made it clear that he had never been an anti-Semite.
