Following the Association of Family Entrepreneurs, the German Association for Small and Medium-Sized Businesses has now also questioned the firewall against the AfD and, as the second major business association, wants to rethink its relations with the AfD. In Munich, Dr Eva Umlauf, Auschwitz survivor and president of the International Auschwitz Committee, stressed:

“As survivors, we cannot comprehend how, in Germany of all places, people are once again handing political power and influence to the very ideology that once plunged Germany and Europe into the abyss. The fact that representatives of important German business associations are now paving the way for the AfD and inviting AfD representatives to the table sends a completely wrong signal and demonstrates a lack of both memory and backbone. As survivors of the Holocaust, we appeal to all members of the business associations in question to make their own stance very clear now. We are calling on them:

Help to protect and shape democracy.”