A nationalist politician is facing criticism for appearing to suggest the German soccer team isn't German enough. Beatrix von Storch tweeted that "perhaps next time the German NATIONAL TEAM should play again?" after Germany lost the European Championship semi-final to France yesterday.
Her choice of the German word "Nationalmannschaft" instead of the term "Die Mannschaft" now commonly used for the squad was seen as criticism of immigrant players. Berlin's state interior minister, Frank Henkel, accused her today of "wallowing in racist prejudices." Von Storch later deleted the tweet but defended it against what she called "political correctness." Members of her Alternative for Germany party have also been criticized for disparaging remarks about a black soccer player, suggesting border guards should be allowed to shoot refugees and for downplaying the Holocaust.
Most Germans take pride in the diversity of their national team, which won the 2014 World Cup with stars such as Jerome Boateng, Mezut Ozil and Sami Khedira, highlighting how far the country has come since the defeat of the Nazi regime in 1945.
The comments were later deleted from von Storch's Twitter account, but that did not stop a storm of online protest. Ralf Stegner, a politician with the left-leaning Social Democrats, responded to von Storch with: "Pure foolishness". Julian Reichelt, editor-in-chief of mass-selling Bild newspaper's online edition, said von Storch was a "dumb racist".
The incident adds to the woes of the AfD, which attracted droves of voters in three regional elections in March but has been hit this week by an internal row over anti-Semitism that caused a split in a regional branch of the party. An Infratest Dimap poll for national broadcaster ARD published on Thursday showed a 2 percentage point drop in support for the AfD to 12 percent from last month. Chancellor Angela Merkel's conservatives enjoyed a three point gain to 34 percent.
It is not the first time that the AfD has stirred anger with comments on soccer stars with an immigrant background.
Party vice-chairman Alexander Gauland told a newspaper last month that people would not want Boateng, born in Berlin to a Ghanaian father and German mother, as their neighbour. (
