#germanpolitics

I think it is entirely legitimate to worry about antisemitic trends on parts of the German left. But there is a rather substantial distance between taking antisemitism seriously and comparing a left-wing candidate for Mayor of Berlin to Adolf Hitler, then suggesting that people should invest in companies making crematoria in case she wins. Which, for the record, is literally something I have just seen someone do. I personally think Die Linke has some housekeeping to do. That does not remotely mean I think Elif Eralp should not, in the end, become Governing Mayor of Berlin. She is a legitimate democratic candidate, and the party's problems should be addressed politically rather than through increasingly unhinged historical analogies. And frankly, the same people who remained remarkably quiet while the actual Nazis were gaining ground have very little moral standing to suddenly discover the urgent necessity of fighting the left with this kind of rhetoric. At some point, “raising concerns about antisemitism” stops being a serious political argument and turns into grotesque historical hyperbole. #GermanPolitics #Berlin #DieLinke #Antisemitism #FarRight