Germany’s co-ruling CDU files complaint against party member for saying Muslims should be gassed to death
Germany’s co-ruling Christian Democratic Union (CDU) filed a criminal complaint against a party member for saying Muslims should be gassed to death, citing how the same was done to Jews in the Holocaust, press reports said Thursday.
The Islamophobic remarks made by a CDU member in the western city of Krefeld caused outrage in the party ranks.
“Now let’s gas the Muslims,” a 23-year-old Christian Democrat suggested in a video shared on TikTok, according to the RND editorial network.
In his video, the man says: “When I’m high up, I’ll push them all out. Actually, I’d rather have them killed. Like, gassed or something.”
Addressing another person, he says, referring to the Nazi death camps in World War II, which killed millions of Jews: “We used to gas the Jews. And now we’re gassing the Muslims. What do you think of that?”
When the other person replies that he can’t comment on that, the Christian Democrat adds: “I can. I don’t give a damn. I’ll do whatever I want.”
CDU shocked
Reacting to the incident, the state party expressed shock. The party also announced that it had filed a criminal complaint with the police and is cooperating fully with the investigating authorities to clarify the facts. Furthermore, it will initiate all necessary party disciplinary measures to expel the member later Thursday.
“We condemn the disgusting and inhumane statements made by a member in the strongest possible terms,” a spokesperson said. “It is true that the local CDU chapter has reported the matter to the public prosecutor’s office and has taken the necessary steps to expel the individual.” The local CDU is being supported in this process by the state headquarters in Duesseldorf.
In a statement by the CDU Krefeld branch on the incident, the party said that the remarks made by a local party member heard in the video were in every respect inhumane and stood in the most blatant contradiction to the fundamental values of the Christian Democratic Union.
“We are shocked and take the allegations very seriously,” said Christopher Schiffer, the CDU district chair. “Immediately after an influencer brought the video to our attention, we strongly distanced ourselves from the member’s statements on social media.”
AA
