AfD youth board member Helmut Strauf resigns after 'Greater Germany' map post

The AfD youth organisation Generation Deutschland announced the resignation of one of its federal board members. Helmut Strauf was stepping down 'for personal reasons', the organisation said on X, according to Der Spiegel. The announcement did not mention the map post.

Days earlier, on 3 October, the Day of German Unity, Strauf posted a map that assigned parts of many neighbouring countries to Germany, marking them in shades of blue as German, Der Spiegel reported, citing taz. Der Spiegel described the post as one about a 'Greater Germany'. Strauf wrote: 'German unity means a Germany that unites the entire German people in one state. Today we commemorate a stage victory on the way there.' He deleted the post shortly afterwards, according to taz.

The map spread through other accounts and, according to taz, drew indignation abroad. AfD youth spokesperson Wendelin Fessl said 'patriotism needs no historical map fantasies' and that the matter should be addressed 'very clearly' at the next board meeting, Der Spiegel reported, citing taz. 'Whoever bears political responsibility must have more in mind than the next provocative post,' Fessl said, according to taz.

In its press release on the resignation, the organisation did not address the incident, Der Spiegel reported. Federal chair Jean-Pascal Hohm expressly thanked Strauf for his work. Strauf's X account was no longer reachable, showing only a notice that the account does not exist, according to Der Spiegel.

FAZ reported that Strauf gave up his post under pressure from the party leadership. FAZ wrote that the youth organisation's statement did not distance itself from the content of the post, creating the impression that it saw not his position as unacceptable but only the fact that he had stated it publicly. FAZ compared the response to the party's earlier handling of statements by then-Member of the European Parliament Maximilian Krah, who expressed pride in SS members.

FAZ wrote that the incident is an indication of the burden the AfD can become for Germany's relations with its neighbours. The paper also wrote that in the AfD milieu such statements appear not to be objectionable in substance.