Recent assaults spark national debate over Germany’s increasingly raw political climate, with some seeing echoes of its dark history.

One politician ruthlessly beaten while hanging campaign posters. Another assaulted in a public library. Yet another, pushed and spat on by suspects who were part of a group of people allegedly calling out “Heil Hitler.”

A string of violent attacks on politicians in Germany — including a brutal assault on a member of the European Parliament in Dresden — has shaken many and sparked a national debate over the increasingly raw political climate in the country, with some drawing comparisons to the kind of political violence that accompanied the rise of the Nazis.

Recent attacks on politicians are “reminiscent of the darkest chapter in German history,” said Hendrik Wüst, the conservative premier of North Rhine-Westphalia, in an interview on German public television.

  • @Carrolade
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    -16 months ago

    You can try to say I’m whatever you want, I don’t really care. What I’m more concerned about is living in a country with democratic values.

    Perhaps it’s being an American, where we have various freedoms, but disagreements should be handled with words and debate. If you cannot beat someone with your words, you don’t deserve to win.

    Regarding Putin, unfortunately, that would probably not make anything better. Just more chaos, and the war would continue. There’s plenty more Putins behind him, and whoever offs him is probably not a nice guy.

    • DarkThoughts
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      26 months ago

      What I’m more concerned about is living in a country with democratic values.

      Yes, very interesting choice of words.

      Perhaps it’s being an American

      Oh boy, and I’m out. Murica!

      • @Carrolade
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        06 months ago

        Bye. Try not to assassinate people just because you disagree with them and want their power.

        • DarkThoughts
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          26 months ago

          Unlike you I’m not a Nazi, but I will very much make use of my constitutional right to fight Nazis.

          • @Carrolade
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            16 months ago

            Fine and dandy. Though simply killing them because you don’t like them makes you just like them. That’s why we hate them after all, they just killed too many people.

            Better to use words to convince.

            • DarkThoughts
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              26 months ago

              Stop preaching this false narrative of “just because you don’t like them”. There’s reasons why we don’t like Nazis. I as a German know this very much better than you uneducated Muricans who think listening to far right pundits is part of some sort of balancing act for their enlightened centrism.

              • @Carrolade
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                16 months ago

                It’s not about liking them or not liking them. It’s about killing people without a trial, without fairness, during a time of peace. It does not matter who they are.

                The law should apply to all people the same.

                • DarkThoughts
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                  16 months ago

                  We’re not at peace, evident by Nazis attacking us and attempting to overthrow our governments.

                  • @Carrolade
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                    16 months ago

                    No, this is no war, that’s a childish take. Go to Ukraine or Gaza or South Sudan if you want to know war. This is still peacetime, and the law should apply to all people the same. Even Nazis. We have prisons for people that break the law, and we can vote to change our leaders and laws.