Church Attendance like in DDR? Kramer Sees Parallels to AfD - Church Attendance like in DDR? Kramer Sees Parallels to AfD
Regional Bishop Friedrich Kramer of the Evangelical Church in Central Germany (EKM) has warned against the rising influence of the Alternative for Germany (AfD) in Saxony-Anhalt. His comments follow recent attacks by the party on church representatives, which Kramer compares to tactics used during the GDR era under the SED regime.
The AfD’s state branches in Thuringia and Saxony-Anhalt have openly declared hostility toward the EKM, deepening tensions between the party and religious institutions.
The dispute intensified after AfD deputy parliamentary leader Till Schneider launched aggressive criticism against Catholic Church figures. Schneider went as far as linking the chairman of the German Bishops’ Conference to the devil. Kramer responded by urging voters to carefully examine the AfD’s positions before the 2026 state elections, where the party could realistically enter government.
Kramer also cautioned the AfD against adopting the SED’s legacy, drawing parallels between current attacks on the church and historical repression. While he stated that AfD members remain welcome in church services, he made clear that party representatives should not hold governing roles within the EKM. The AfD’s Magdeburg parliamentary group retaliated by accusing Kramer of promoting exclusionary alliances against the party. They compared his stance to the pro-Nazi ‘German Christians’ movement of the 1930s. Meanwhile, several AfD state factions had already outlined their opposition to the EKM in a 2019 position paper titled *An Unholy Alliance*.
The confrontation highlights growing tensions between the AfD and religious institutions in eastern Germany. With state elections approaching, Kramer’s warnings reflect broader concerns about the party’s potential influence. The EKM maintains its position that AfD members may attend services but cannot take leadership roles in church governance.
Read also:
- American teenagers taking up farming roles previously filled by immigrants, a concept revisited from 1965's labor market shift.
- Weekly affairs in the German Federal Parliament (Bundestag)
- Landslide claims seven lives, injures six individuals while they work to restore a water channel in the northern region of Pakistan
- Escalating conflict in Sudan has prompted the United Nations to announce a critical gender crisis, highlighting the disproportionate impact of the ongoing violence on women and girls.
