Pagan festivals instead of Christian ones. The AfD’s programme that is mobilising the Church

Rome. At the June congress of Alternative für Deutschland (AfD), a proposal was put to the vote aimed at replacing Christian holidays with German neo-pagan celebrations, starting with the winter and summer solstices. Proper public holidays, with shops, schools and offices closed and celebrations held across the nation. This was stated by Wolfram Weimer, Minister of State and Federal Government Commissioner for Culture and the Media (a role comparable to that of an Under-Secretary to the Prime Minister in Italy). Weimer, a conservative and one of the founders of the prestigious cultural magazine Cicero, immediately drew ominous comparisons with the past: “Naturally, our tradition, which has its roots in Christianity and Judaism, exerts such a profound cultural influence on everything we know that a direct attack against it would truly constitute a revolutionary act, just as the Nazis did.” Under Hitler, in fact, Christmas was redefined as a neo-pagan celebration of Nordic inspiration aimed at glorifying the race and the rituals associated with the winter solstice. This is not about defending the festival (with the associated consumerism that sparks so much debate every December) nor about invoking religious principles: Weimer is not talking about nativity scenes in public places or Christmas plays. He is saying that the AfD, despite various reassurances, is embracing every aspect of National Socialism of that infamous past: “A fundamental issue for our society is at stake.” The AfD’s aim, according to the minister, is to redefine Germany according to an ethno-nationalist conception, through the glorification of the Volk, the people. “Regardless of how each individual relates to the Christian faith, it is clear that our tradition, of Christian-Jewish origin, has shaped our culture and everything we know so profoundly that a direct attack against it reveals a genuinely revolutionary intention, just as the Nazis did.”

“And so,” continued Weimer, “I ask: do you really want to return to völkisch ideology, to a Germanic construct? The issue of Christmas becomes the focal point of all this; that is why I am addressing the subject.” Weimer spoke of a “neo-nationalism” that seeks to “shut everything down, from the Bauhaus right through to institutions linked to the Churches”, and for this reason too, a more forceful campaign of condemnation is needed. And the Church has decided to take a stand, despite threats from the far right to target it – particularly financially – if it continues to campaign against the AfD. Elections are due to be held in several German Länder this September; in Saxony-Anhalt, the polls put the nationalist party at 41 per cent, and in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania at 36 per cent. Compounded by the crisis of confidence currently facing the government led by Chancellor Friedrich Merz, there are now few observers who do not believe the AfD will become Germany’s largest party. The Catholic and Protestant Churches have begun actively campaigning through posters displayed in schools, parishes and social institutions, as well as through specially organised meetings. The message is simple: vote for democratic parties and oppose extremism. The Archbishop of Hamburg, Monsignor Stefan Hesse, has called on people to “seize this opportunity to make our parishes and our institutions places of dialogue and democracy”. During the last Lent, it was the Bishop of Magdeburg, Monsignor Gerhard Feige, who warned his fellow countrymen: “If the AfD’s draft for a possible government programme following the elections in Saxony-Anhalt were to be taken seriously, then liberal democracy and pluralism, religious freedom as we know it, and tolerance would be a thing of the past.”