Ruprecht Polenz (CDU): Tweet against volkisches ideas

SPIEGEL ONLINE: Mr. Polenz, you already joined Twitter in March 2015. However, you did not sell your first tweet until 17 March of this year. Why did you hesitate so long?

Polenz: I have been active on Facebook for a long time and had received the hint from some friends that I should also get involved on Twitter. I had excluded that to date, however. I was skeptical of any meaningful statements or discussions within Twitter's 140-character limit.

SPIEGEL ONLINE: Meanwhile, the number of characters has been doubled for a tweet.

Polenz: 280 characters make it possible to express at least half a thought clearly. I've found that you can also initiate political discussions on Twitter. And I enjoy it.

SPIEGEL ONLINE: Great fun, it seems - you tweet on an hourly basis, sometimes drop more than 30 tweets a day. What drives you?

Polenz: As a retired politician, I want to continue participating in the political debate. And the range is simply much larger in social media than in a lecture or a panel discussion. I do that too, but there you are happy, when a hundred people come. In social networks, I reach a lot more people.

SPIEGEL ONLINE: Who do you want to achieve above all else?

Polenz: I would like to encourage those who are looking for arguments to better defend themselves against Volkish populists and nationalist nationalists. And I would like to push back the influence of the populists.

SPIEGEL ONLINE: And you advertise steadfastly for Angela Merkel.

Polenz: I urge that the party's direction since 2000 under Angela Merkel be continued. Of course, you always have to give new answers to new questions. But these should be given out of an open and liberal attitude and out of a pluralistic society.

SPIEGEL ONLINE: And why you always go back to the conservative critics of the Chancellor on Twitter?

Polenz: Some circles in the Union, for example, the so-called value union, believe that by turning back the clocks and especially by taking over the rhetoric and partly also the internal positions of the AfD - especially in the refugee question - one could win back voters. I think that is wrong. The CDU was never a folk-nationalist party. Whoever runs after the AfD only makes them stronger.

SPIEGEL ONLINE: You sound almost left-liberal on Twitter.

Polenz: That this sounds left-liberal may be due to a shift to the right of the discussion that the AfD has brought about in recent years. I did not change my basic position. I see myself as a liberal Christian Democrat and turn against a resurgence of nationalist ideas, which in the face of our history I would have considered impossible in Germany. Now this idea has arrived partly in the bourgeoisie and again acceptable.

SPIEGEL ONLINE: How does your party react to your involvement in the social media?

Polenz: I am encouraged by many to keep going. However, some also ask me if I'm still in the right party. Just because I represent positions that represents about the Chancellor, too. Those are the ones that unfortunately are now on the right side of our party. People who have already tuned into the AfD reputation 'Merkel must go' or will do it.

The #AfD was democratically elected. Yes. But that is why the nationalist nationalists did not become a democratically-minded party. A choice is not a wash. The brown stays in the clothes. pic.twitter.com/VssTRHNobt

SPIEGEL ONLINE: Especially Tweets, in which you have criticized the AfD, have already been reported several times. How do you deal with that?

Polenz: That gives me the feeling that I'm on the right track.

SPIEGEL ONLINE: What says your family that you start with 72, Twitter to shake up?

Polenz: In the past ten years, she has become accustomed to being very active on Facebook. Sometimes they find it a bit much. Then, when I explain why I do that - because the AfD is more present in social networks than all the democratic parties together - they say, 'Then do it!' "

SPIEGEL ONLINE: In your time as general secretary of the CDU some were considered too friendly. In contrast, social media is often anything but friendly. Is that touching you?

Polenz: Some attacks do not pass me without a trace. It is exhausting to endure what comes back to hate and occasionally insult. If it gets too much, I'll block it. But I try to be polite and do not insult anyone. As for the question of friendliness, I have not changed - even if you sometimes get very short on Twitter. But I am friendly to all who discuss openly and fairly. That sometimes I am rude to someone who incites against refugees, goes without saying.

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