On Monday afternoon, October 30, Bavarian MP Daniel Halemba was due to take his seat at the constituent session of the Bavarian state parliament in Munich. Instead, the 22-year-old, freshly elected on the list of the far-right Alternative für Deutschland (AfD) party, was arrested and questioned by the Bavarian police, who suspect him of having been in possession of Nazi artifacts, in violation of the constitution.
The Würzburg public prosecutor finally suspended the arrest warrant a few hours later, subject to strict conditions: Halemba must report to the police station once a week. He is also forbidden to make contact with members of the Teutonia Prag fraternity, a student association in Würzburg with close ties to right-wing extremist circles, which he has been a member of since 2021. Halemba, who took his seat in parliament the following day, denies all the charges against him.
The affair sheds a chilling light on the AfD's proximity to neo-Nazi circles. The party, which has been gaining ground in the polls in recent months, strengthened its presence in two state parliaments following the October 8 elections. The AfD holds 32 seats in the Bavarian Parliament and 28 in the Hessian Parliament, making it the leading opposition party in both states, which are among the richest and most industrialized in the country.
On the day of its constituent session, the new Bavarian Parliament had to lift the parliamentary immunity of Halemba, who had just been elected, on suspicion of "inciting hatred and using the distinctive symbols of unconstitutional organizations." The vote was taken with the AfD abstaining, calling it "state repression" against its MP. On Tuesday, Bavarian Parliament Chair Ilse Aigner accused the AfD parliamentary group leadership of carrying out "a targeted attack on the institutions of our democracy."
The details revealed by the court on Tuesday, October 31 are damning. The Würzburg public prosecutor's office issued a statement saying that the investigation against the MP and four others had been underway for several weeks. According to the judge, suspicions were heightened after a police raid on the fraternity's premises in Würzburg on September 14, during which numerous compromising objects were seized. A visitors' book was found, containing a note with the Nazi greeting "Sieg Heil," signed with Halemba's name. In the MP's bedroom, the inspectors also found, "in plain view," a printout of an SS order dated October 28, 1939, signed by Heinrich Himmler, one of the Nazi regime's most senior officials and one of the main organizers of the Holocaust. In other rooms of the house, various Nazi objects and anti-Semitic writings were identified. Several brass knuckles, a machete, truncheons and other bladed weapons were also seized.
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