The city of Hildburghausen in Thuringia has been criticized for publishing a historical Nazi ad. The imprint announces a memorial service for the victims of an Allied air raid on 23 February 1945 on the city. The schedule refers to a "terrorist attack". One of the program points is "a word of the leader".
The mayor, Holger Obst (CDU), recalls the ad that appeared in the official section of the "Hildburghäuser Stadtanzeiger" in a short text about the air raids. The NS ad remains uncommented. In addition to the ad two photos of the event from 2 March 1945 can be seen, also without any comment.
In the region, the imprint provoked angry reactions. "To reprint Nazi propaganda without comment is a democrat unworthy," said the deputy chairman of the SPD, Diana Lehmann, the portal Insüdthüringen.de.
Left-wing MP Steffen Harzer called for fruit to resign. "The commentary-free reproduction of Nazi propaganda and Hitler's honor in an Official Gazette borders in my opinion on the punishable glorification of National Socialism," writes Harzer on Twitter. This shows that fruit is "unsuitable for the office of mayor".
Fruit itself called the imprint accidental. "The original material shown in the Official comes from the city museum," he told SPIEGEL ONLINE. "We should have labeled it without question in the post." This was simply a mistake for which we apologize, it certainly will not happen again. "None of the staff involved has any sense of right."
The CDU Thuringia stood behind the mayor. "It is right and necessary that fruit confesses this serious mistake frankly and excludes a repetition," wrote the national association on Twitter. "The publication of such sources without clear and critical classification prohibits itself."