Berlin Minister Sparks Fury With Claim Syria ‘Worse Than 1945 Germany’
Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul triggers outrage after arguing Syrians cannot return home despite the civil war’s end—handing fresh political momentum to the AfD.
Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul triggers outrage after arguing Syrians cannot return home despite the civil war’s end—handing fresh political momentum to the AfD.
Berlin’s political class is once again embroiled in a row over migration policy—yet with little real action underway to curb arrivals.
This week’s dispute centres on Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul (of Friedrich Merz’s CDU), who sparked backlash after claiming that Syrian refugees could not be returned home because conditions in Syria were “worse” than in Germany in 1945. His comments, intended to clarify an earlier remark about Syria still being too devastated for repatriations despite the civil war’s end, only deepened the controversy.
Wadephul was addressing a meeting of the CDU/CSU parliamentary group, according to Bild, which described some participants as being “outraged, others surprised by the drastic statement.”
Der Spiegeladded that “his remarks were met with little applause,” and—as if to highlight the seriousness of the situation—noted:
Privately, some are already calling for Wadephul’s resignation.
Indeed, one of the meeting’s participants told the paper: “That was awful.”
Welt editor Jan Philipp Burgard, speaking on national television on Tuesday evening, agreed that “there are no reasons to continue granting asylum to Syrians.”
Assad is gone, the civil war is over. Foreign Minister Wadephul does not strike me as a world politician, but rather as a politician who lives in his own world.
Es gibt keine Gründe, Syrern weiter Asyl zu gewähren. Assad ist weg, der Bürgerkrieg beendet. Außenminister Wadephul wirkt auf mich nicht wie ein Weltpolitiker, sondern wie ein Politiker, der in seiner eigenen Welt lebt. Meine Meinung bei @maischbergerpic.twitter.com/acprnsQ29J
And AfD co-leader Alice Weidel on Wednesday bashed Wadephul as “a disrespectful foreign minister who tramples on the diligence and sacrifices of the post-war generations that rebuilt this country,” saying he was “a complete misfit in the Foreign Office.”
AfD politician Jochen K. Roos also described Wadephul’s comments as “a new low,” asking: “When will this man be released?”
But this, of course, is all positive news for the AfD. The more the establishment parties show that they cannot be taken seriously on migration, the more voters will turn to the alternative.
Michael Curzon is a news writer for europeanconservative.com based in England’s Midlands. He is also Editor of Bournbrook Magazine, which he founded in 2019, and previously wrote for London’s Express Online. His Twitter handle is @MichaelCurzon_.
