A comparison of refugees with the persecution of Jews during the Nazi era overshadows the left’s digital start to the year. The candidate for the office of Federal President is facing headwinds.
Berlin – Comparisons with National Socialism and the persecution of the Jews only rarely backfire. The left-wing candidate for the office of Federal President, Gerhard Trabert, dared to do it anyway. The social medicine specialist drew a parallel between the social exclusion of poor people who had fled and the persecution of Jews during the Nazi era. There was criticism for this – including a demand for his resignation.
At the digital start of the year for the left on Saturday (January 15), Trabert quoted a Jewish youth who died in 1945 in the Bergen-Belsen Nazi concentration camp. In his diary, the boy complained that society ignored the fate of the Jews.
Left wish Federal President Trabert compares the situation of refugees with the persecution of Jews
Trabert said: “Why this quote? Just as many Germans knew back then what was happening to the Jews, today we know what is happening to refugees in the Mediterranean, in Libyan and Syrian camps. We know how poverty is increasing, we know about the increased death rate of poor people here in Germany too. Comparing the richest with the poorest quarter, poor women die 4.4 and poor men 8.6 years earlier. This is all a scandal.”
According to Trabert, the causes lie in economic, social, trade and foreign policy. “We must not stop naming this, this form of structural violence,” demanded the left-wing candidate for the office of Federal President.
Gerhard Trabert: Left-wing candidate for the federal presidential election rows back on Twitter
Trabert later clarified on Twitter: “I’m not interested in a historical equation. The suffering of many people caused by the National Socialists was indescribably greater and cannot be compared. But the tendency to look the other way must be clearly criticized. It’s about looking, especially in this day and age, and learning from the past.”
Many users of the short message service did not want to accept the clarification tweet. “A comparison with National Socialism is out of the question. Point,” wrote one user. Another asked: “Sounds great, for a future Federal President. Does the ‘I’m-talking-myself-out-although-I-should-know-better’-thread come up after every speech?
Die Linke: FDP man Vogel demands resignation from Trabert after NS comparison
The FDP reacted to Trabert’s NS comparison in the person of Johannes Vogel. Vogel, the first parliamentary manager of the parliamentary group, demanded in the world on Sunday consequences. “It is completely incomprehensible to me that there is always someone who draws historically forgotten comparisons to the Nazi era. These statements are absolutely unacceptable and as confused as they are historical.”
With his statement, Gerhard Trabert obviously disqualifies himself for the highest state office, Vogel said. “The left should weigh up critically whether they continue this candidacy.” The non-party Trabert was nominated by the left this week as a candidate for the election of the Federal President in February. The doctor has been working in the health care of homeless and refugees for decades. (dpa/yo)
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