AfD politician glorifies Hitler’s paratroopers

https://www.n-tv.de/politik/AfD-Politiker-glorifiziert-Hitlers-Fallschirmjaeger-article25783823.html

by throwaway_failure59

45 comments

  1. Deepl translation of the article:

    Admiration for the conquerors of Crete

    AfD politician Lucassen causes outrage with a post on the anniversary of the invasion of Crete by the Wehrmacht. The member of the Bundestag uncritically honours the role of German paratroopers. In doing so, he ignores the war crimes committed and the role of the troops in the Nazi system.

    AfD member of parliament Rüdiger Lucassen has caused outrage with glorifying statements about German paratroopers in the Second World War. On Tuesday, the former Bundeswehr colonel recalled his father’s deployment on Platform X, which he said took place during the German invasion of Crete in 1941.

    ‘84 years ago today, my father Hans Lucassen and his comrades from Parachute Regiment 1 parachuted over Crete,’ writes Lucassen. ‘The military achievements of the fighting units are still honoured today by military historians and soldiers. The personal fates of the German paratroopers move us to tears.’

    The conquest of Crete also established the reputation of the modern paratroopers, claims Lucassen. The key dates and names of this battle are still familiar to Bundeswehr soldiers today. ‘Even if the political leadership tries to prevent it.’

    Lucassen’s uncritical and glorifying statements are met with incomprehension by many X users. In the comments section of the post, several users point out the war crimes committed by German paratroopers on the island. In addition, Lucassen is criticised for completely ignoring the historical context of the invasion, namely Adolf Hitler’s war of extermination.

    ‘Elite of the Führer’

    The Battle of Crete raged from 20 May to 1 June 1941. 23,500 German soldiers, mainly paratroopers, attacked the island, which was defended by 32,000 British and 10,300 Greeks. Despite the enormous losses and poor planning, Nazi propaganda played up the conquest of Crete as a magnificent victory.

    After the fighting, numerous massacres of the civilian population took place on the island. For example, the 1st Parachute Regiment mentioned by Lucassen shot several hostages in the village of Kondomari on 3 June 1941. In total, more than 2,000 Cretans were murdered in the first months of the German occupation.

    The Wehrmacht paratroops, which were formed from volunteers from 1935 onwards, were among the prestige organisations of the Nazi regime. According to historian Magnus Pahl, the paratroopers saw themselves as ‘political soldiers’ and the ‘Führer’s elite’. As head of the Luftwaffe, Hermann Göring held a protective hand over the paratroopers. Propaganda Minister Joseph Goebbels also supported them. His stepson Harald Quandt served as an officer in the 1st Paratrooper Division.

    The troops were protected and favoured by the regime. The propaganda created the image of fanatical model soldiers. ‘The myth of a few invincible paratroopers who defied enemy superiority can still be found in specialised literature today,’ said historian Pahl recently in an interview with ntv.de. The numerous war crimes committed by German paratroopers on Crete, on the Eastern Front and in Italy are often pushed into the background.

  3. It isn‘t even a surprise anymore. The Question isn‘t „if one of them posts something like that?“ only „When is someone posting?“

  4. Mfers say stuff like this and then get pissed when they get labeled far right….

  6. Neonazi party glorifying Nazis. Should anyone really be surprised?

  7. >Lucassen’s uncritical and glorifying statements

    Glorifying the Nazi war machine, and not criticizing their war crimes should not be acceptable anywhere.

    I think it’s possible to acknowledge the courage and skill it took to do something like this while at the same time being very critical of the ideology, and the crimes.

  9. Member of a neonazi party glorifying the 3rd reich? Consider me schocked!

  12. It was such a success that the paratroopers were never employed by the German army again for the duration of the war.

    Some fucking track record. 

    At least more sensible nations took notes on what not to do and learned from it. Unlike the German army repeatedly dropping paratroopers into combat, without their weapons. 

    They fucked it up over Norway and fucked it up over Crete and then just gave up. 

  14. Cretan villagers were very welcoming to the paratroopers, slowing their fall with bullets and farm tools.

  15. The pitchforks of Cretan farmers also “glorified” Hitler’s paratroopers. They “glorified” them so much they never used them again.

  16. No worries, the US, installed a statue of the pilots who bombed Sofia, Bulgaria during WW2 in the very same place, glorifying their deaths as “They made our future bright”. But it seems nobody even flinched since they are the world’s policeman and you can’t point fingers there.

  18. Surprising that an AfD politician would openly praise left-wing terrorists!

  19. And I am glorifying Crete, who completely humiliated them.

    Your move Nazis

  20. Wow, surprising that it would come from an AfD politican, isn’t it. Because they’re totally not nazis, they’re “centrists” as their fans love to say 😀

  21. Holup!Afd politician glorifies nazi?This is impossible!This had never happened, but here it happens again in 100000th time

  22. He thinks the nazis were communists so it’s surprising he praises their troopers

  23. It’s remarkable, how more and more the AfD and their voters lose their shame about the Third Reich. This shows once again, what they really want: getting rid off undesirables.

  24. Is there a concrete reason as to why AfD hasn’t been banned yet? Is it just bureaucracy or is there fear that there will be a big backlash from the supporters?

  26. Have you seen the number of tracking cookies on that website?!

    Oh yeah, f@ck afd.

  28. So these are the kinds of people 20% of Germany wants to vote for, eh?

  30. Well yeah no shit, they are Nazi’s.

    Nazi’s tend to praise Nazi’s, fascism is just a big circlejerk. This isn’t surprising in the slightest.

  31. Somehow, I still looked at that headline and thought “it probably isn’t as bad as they’re making it out to be.”

    Meanwhile the guy is literally celebrating his Nazi father’s participation in the invasion of Crete… I don’t know how anyone can say the Germans have too much guilt over their past when a party that glorifies the Nazis is among the biggest in the country.

  32. In my opinion it is not true that the AfD can be equated with Hitler. Think about which party is disrespecting the voters.
    I am and will remain an afd voter because I am now more afraid of left-wing radicalization in Germany.

  34. “we are not Nazis” . “Oh btw this nazi guy was a chad” hmmmmmmm

  35. How is this political party not banned yet? Evidence against them is overwhelming, at this point.

  36. I still can’t comprehend how some people don’t see this party as a bunch of nazis, or at least far right when their politicians say shit like this.

    And like this is nothing new, it has been happening for the past 10 years!

    For example [Alexander Gauland’s remark ](https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-44354559.amp) from 2018, [Höcke’s remark from 2017](https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-38661621.amp), [Höcke’s nazi slogans](https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-68848312.amp), [Günter Grass SS remarks](https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.bbc.com/news/articles/cx88nwy934go.amp) which got the AFD expelled from the far right ID group, [Alice Widel’s remark](https://www.google.com/amp/s/amp.dw.com/en/fact-check-afd-head-called-hitler-communist-he-was-not/a-71274756) that Hitler was a communist and etc.

  37. They desperately try to uphold this “great forefathers” myth. Like bro yes maybe they accomplished astonishing things but every tiny bit of context just makes you not want to look up to them. Idk i think they need this for broader propagandistic purpose. The “back to the roots” thing is used by nationalists worldwide. 

  38. >84 years ago today, my father, Hans Lucassen, parachuted into Crete with his comrades from the 1st Parachute Regiment. Operation Merkur became the largest airborne operation in military history. After 12 days of costly fighting against an enemy superior in both material and personnel, the Mediterranean island was captured.

    The soldierly performance of the fighting units is still honored by military historians and soldiers today. The personal fates of the German paratroopers are moving to tears. Like that of the three Blücher boys. Hans-Joachim, Leberecht, and Wolfgang Graf von Blücher (descendants of the famous Prussian Field Marshal) fell within a few hours of each other. Hans-Joachim died in Wolfgang’s arms while attempting to supply his brother’s platoon with ammunition. Leberecht was presumably mortally wounded while parachuting.

    For my father, Crete was his first major deployment in the war. This was followed by years on the Eastern Front and the Battle of Monte Cassino.

    The conquest of Crete also established the reputation of the modern paratrooper force. To this day, the key dates and names of this battle are familiar to our Bundeswehr soldiers, even though the political leadership tries to suppress it.

    Winston Churchill described it this way: “These brave, superbly trained and absolutely reliable paratroopers represented the flower of German manhood.”

    [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Crete](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Crete)

    It doesn’t seem to be much of a glorification comparing wikipedia and his post.

  39. It’s only a matter of time when more and more people will follow Musks’s footsteps, openly praising nazis. We can see it with praising of comminsts’ regimes for quite some time.

  40. Mmm yes, the elite Nazi paratroopers. The same ones that got their absolute asses handed to them at the Hague? And only managed to partially survive because Goring decided to start mass bombing civilians? Those guys?

    Reminds me of the VDV at Hostomel, some elite forces ya got there. Or maybe it’s the other way around.

  42. Seriously nothing bad or wrong in this tweet and definitely no glorifying.
    Spew your leftist hate somewhere else.

  45. As a former paratrooper in the Bundeswehr, I’d like to extend a warm “Fuck you” to this cunt, his party and his dad 🙂

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