This week, the two right wingers of the AfD, Björn Höcke and Andreas Kalbitz, come together in Saxony with their network "Der Flügel". The meeting was planned for a long time, but is now completely under the impression of the statement of the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution.

For the domestic secret service has announced in the past week that he leads the AfD as a test case for an observation as well as the party youth "Young Alternative" (JA) and the right wing network "wing" assessed as a suspected case. This is a sharper sword.

The party is under pressure. In the future, the secret service could use intelligence services against both parties, such as surveillance teams, or store information in Nadis, the data network system of the Federal Office and state offices for constitutional protection.

Höcke and Kalbitz, the AfD leaders of Thuringia and Brandenburg, are central figures in the "wing" network for the Federal Office. In the more than 400 pages comprehensive report of the domestic intelligence service, which is the SPIEGEL, the "wing" is attested a "völkisch-nationalist ideology".

Above all, numerous speeches and utterances Höckes were analyzed:

  • When Höcke propagates the "re-migration" of foreigners, for example, he means a "only provisionally veiled demand for the arbitrary deprivation of nationality and indiscriminate mass deportations".
  • Höcke pronounces the right of asylum on Muslims. In the report he is quoted as saying: "Let's draw the consequences - no asylum rights for Muslims in Germany."
  • Even the well-known speeches Höckes, in which he described as the Holocaust Memorial in Berlin as a "memorial of shame" and calls for a "memorial policy turn by 180 degrees", appear there.
  • Sometimes AFD officials would bring the government and its institutions close to "undemocratic regimes or historical dictatorships". Höcke described the Federal Republic in one speech as a "real state of re-education and state of mind," and in another spoke of the "smell of decay of a dying democracy."

Although the party leaders Alexander Gauland and Jörg Meuthen - both belong not to the "wing", but have repeatedly occurred at the so-called "Kyffhäuser" meeting of the network - takes the protection of the Constitution in the responsibility: both would have "by no means of the" aggressive Dedicated to the 'wing' protagonists' diction, both often expressed "similar language and stylistic devices" on such occasions.

Now the party fears the observation by the protection of the constitution. Since autumn, the AFD member of parliament Roland Hartwig leads an internal working group, which should develop recommendations to prevent this. Finally, the group presented a paper in which the officials and members are held to a restrained language - for example, by renouncing terms such as "national community" or "Umvolkung". A distancing from the "wing" but is not included.

In an interview with SPIEGEL ONLINE Roland Hartwig now expresses his opinion on the protection of the constitution and the further dealings with Björn Höcke.

SPIEGEL ONLINE: Mr. Hartwig, the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution has declared the AfD to the "test case", the "Young Alternative" (YES) and the "wings" by Björn Höcke and Andreas Kalbitz even on "suspicion" on extremist aspirations. Are you worried?

Hartwig: Unrest is the wrong expression. First of all, we are astonished that the Federal Office makes us a test case.

SPIEGEL ONLINE: Why that?

Hartwig: It has been examining us for months, so we're also considering whether we want to take legal action against this process - a press conference on an internal authority decision to continue this examination. First of all, we asked for the report of the protection of the constitution, which some media should already have been available for a long time.

SPIEGEL ONLINE: What do you fear?

Hartwig: Just the fact that an exam is announced, of course, can leave a negative impression on one or the other voters. For that we have to wait for the future development.

SPIEGEL ONLINE: Among lawyers, the question is controversial how long such a review may go against a party. The President of the Federal Office, Thomas Haldenwang, has declared in a non-public meeting of the Bundestag's Interior Committee that he considers it appropriate to spend one to two years. What do you expect?

Hartwig: Since I make no prognosis. First of all, however, we note positively that Mr. Haldenwang has not found any basis for an observation of the AfD as a result of this examination. That is gratifying and meets our expectations. So if it stays with this assessment after the exam, we can credit that for us.

SPIEGEL ONLINE: You rely on a kind of constitution protection seal of quality?

Hartwig: I would not expect a free pass, that would probably be too much to ask. However, I already expect that our course in the past, and especially in the past few months, with which we consistently treat individual cases in the party, will also be honored by Mr. Haldenwang. I am sure that even as the final result of the ongoing examination, we will not give grounds for suspicion.

SPIEGEL ONLINE: The offspring is already a suspected case for the office. Does the AfD have to dissolve the "Young Alternative" because only extremist forces are represented in it?

Hartwig: We will also analyze here the report of the constitution protection, as soon as we received it, exactly. In Lower Saxony, the JA-Landesverband has already dissolved. At the federal level, a complete replacement of the federal party will only have to be considered if other options are no longer sufficient. We will first have to discuss with the JA leadership how and if extreme phenomena can be resolved in the foreseeable future. Only then will we be advised on how to proceed.

SPIEGEL ONLINE: The "wing" is also a suspicious case for the Federal Office. They came as a bourgeois Euro-critics in 2013 to the AfD, do not belong to the "wing". What do you expect from Björn Höcke?

Hartwig: I would be delighted if Mr Höcke, as an exposed representative of the "wing", would take a clear position and deal with the allegations and clues that have been gathered by the constitution protection offices. It would be very helpful for the AfD if Mr Höcke draws a clear line, which in his view is acceptable and unacceptable.

SPIEGEL ONLINE: Is Höckes "wing" for you an integral part of the AfD or already a burden?

Hartwig: To say it in the football language - a good team also needs a right winger who could be Mr. Höcke. But he just has to play on the field according to the rules in force and behave as it is ordered to those who are no longer on the pitch and violate the rules.

SPIEGEL ONLINE: Representatives of the "Alternatives Mitte" - which has formed as a counterpart to the "wing" - demand a "self-cleaning" of the "wing", the AfD member of parliament Uwe Witt in the final analysis, the separation of certain people. What do you make of it?

Hartwig: That's exactly what happened in the past and especially in the last few months, and of course it will continue in the future.