Right-wing Spaces

Götz Kubitschek, cited in Liane Bednarz and Christoph Giesa, Gefährliche Bürger: Die Neue Rechte greift nach der Mitte (Munich: Hanser, 2015), 69.

A Swiss popular initiative led by SVP politicians has been rallying against the building of minarets since 2006 and, with the help of a poster (designed by the Swiss-based German graphic designer Alexander Segert) that depicts minarets as missiles, declares Islam to be incompatible with Swiss values. Front National has mimicked this Swiss campaign and uses it to suggest that France and Islam are irreconcilable. FPÖ politicians repeatedly seek to block the building of mosques (also involving Segert in their campaign). AfD, as happened at the 2016 national party conference in Stuttgart, included the statement “Islam is not part of Germany” in its manifesto.

If there was any doubt as to Strauß’s right-wing leanings, after publishing “The Last German” (“Der letzte Deutsche”) in Der Spiegel in October 2015, there can be no longer. In it, Strauß makes statements like: “I would rather live in a dying but vital nation (Volk) than in one that is being rejuvenated by being mixed together with foreign peoples, primarily on the basis of economic and demographic speculation.” In line with this, he concocts stories about “the country being inundated,” before concluding with grudging fatalism, “The immigration of uprooted persons will eventually lead to the end of the nation and with it any national literature. Anyone who loves these things and cannot live without them will thus put their only hope in a reinvigorated, newly emerging ‘Secret Germany.’” Botho Strauß, “Der letzte Deutsche,” Der Spiegel 41 (2 October 2015), ➝.

Within Anschwellender Bocksgesang, Strauß states: “in our liberal-libertarian self-centeredness” we no longer understand “that a people seeks to assert its moral law over others and is ready to make blood-sacrifices for it.”

The ideology of exclusion fostered within the compound has led to the fact that we know relatively little about this place. In 2003, in “Botho Strauß lives here” (“Hier wohnt Botho Strauß”), Ingo Niermann and Joachim Bessing looked at the mundanity of the place until it looked back at them with a monstrous gaze. See Ingo Niermann and Joachim Bessing, “Hier wohnt Botho Strauß” (2003), waahr (27 February, 2013), ➝. This was followed in 2007 by Volker Weidermann’s piece “The great green offensive” (“Der große Laubangriff”) based on his visit to the house, which ended at the gates of the property. “A place in which happiness might be found, for example, a sense of satisfaction in the sheer loveliness of looking. Or alternatively a contempt for the world, for people, civilization, and society, prophecies of the end of days, a delight in the world’s demise.” See Volker Weidermann, “Botho Strauß: ‘Die Fehler des Kopisten’; Der große Laubangriff,” Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, (5 April, 2007), ➝. In 2013 Hubert Spiegel published “The great green offensive” (“Der alte Junge”), a report from a hike with Strauß, in which Spiegel remarked, “The leviathan is his neighbor.” See Hubert Spiegel, “Der alte Junge” Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, (21 February, 2013), ➝.

Botho Strauß, Die Fehler des Kopisten (Munich: Hanser, 1997), 107. Thomas Assheuer, lambasting him in DIE ZEIT, rightly accused him of “murmuring … in runes.” Thomas Assheuer, “Botho Strauß verläßt die Stadt, geht aufs Land und bestellt das Feld der Wahrheit: ‘Die Fehler des Kopisten,’” DIE ZEIT (25 April, 1997), ➝.

Liane Bednarz, “Wenn Lucke geht, bleibt Höcke: Björn Höcke lehnt einen gemäßigten AfD-Kurs ab, er ist Teil der ‘Neuen Rechten’; Eine Replik und Warnung,” The European, (26 May, 2015), ➝.

Andreas Kemper, “Landolf Ladig, NS-Verherrlicher,” (9 January, 2016), ➝.

Anna Schmidt and Amadeu-Antonio-Stiftung, Völkische SiedlerInnen im ländlichen Raum: Basiswissen und handlungsrategien (Berlin: Amadeu-Antonio-Stiftung, 2014).

Cited in ibid., 9.

Ibid., 22.

Ibid., 8.

Andrea Röpke, cited in ibid., 9.

Cited in Uwe Müller, Lars-Marten Nagel and Marcel Pauly, “AfD-Wahlsieg als Weg aus dem privaten Finanzdesaster,” Die Welt (31 January, 2016), ➝.

Stefan Schirmer, “Nicht totzukriegen: Karl-Heinz Hoffmann kämpfte einst als Neonazi-Anführer gegen den Staat; Nun kämpft er als Schlossherr in Sachsen gegen einen Abwasserzweckverband,” DIE ZEIT (28 January, 2016),➝.

“Nazi-Schloss steht wieder zum Verkauf,” Bild (10 April, 2016). ➝.

Philipp Oswalt, Berlin: Stadt ohne Form: Strategien einer anderen Architektur (Munich: Prestel, 2000), 56.

Maximilian Zech, “Architektur der Tradition,” Blaue Narzisse (24 February, 2014).

On Stephan’s Facebook page, one encounters vapor trails of anger directed against a “left-wing ethical dictatorship,” against the “crap” of pro-women and pro-immigration language; a naïve sympathy for Pegida, a playing down of the crusades and a hatred for Islam.

“Björn Höcke (AfD): Interview mit Dale Hurd/CBN-News (10.03.2016),” YouTube, ➝.

“Kyffhäusertreffen 2016: Ausgebucht!” Der Flügel, (24 May, 2016), ➝.

Hagen Eichler, “Der doppelte Poggenburg,” Volksstimme, (9 January, 2016), ➝.

With accusations of antisemitism hanging over him and facing of resistance from many party members, Gedeon was obliged to leave his party, under pressure from Jörg Meuthen, one of the two AfD Federal Spokespersons. See “AfD-Abgeordneter Gedeon verharmlost Holocaustleugner – Landtag Baden-Württemberg – SWR HD,” YouTube, ➝.

Alain Badiou, Über Metapolitik (Zurich: diaphanes, 2003).