The chairwoman of the Sahra Wagenknecht Alliance (BSW), Sahra Wagenknecht, does not regret her harsh criticism of CDU foreign policy expert Roderich Kiesewetter and rejects any responsibility for an attack on Kiesewetter at an election rally. Wagenknecht said in the program “Politikergrillen mit Jan Philipp Burgard” on WELT TV, which will be broadcast on Thursday at 8:15 p.m.: “I condemn the fact that Roderich Kiesewetter was attacked. I also find something like that very bad. But I also find his statements extremely problematic.”
The CDU politician had openly demanded that Ukraine be allowed to attack ministries in Moscow with German weapons and that the war should be carried to Russia. Wagenknecht said: “This puts our country in massive danger.” She was frightened that the Chancellor was following Kiesewetter on this issue and had approved the use of German weapons for targets in Russia. “I don’t regret saying that we have to stop such positions and of course those who represent them,” she explained.
In an election campaign speech in Saarbrücken on May 27, Wagenknecht called on around 300 supporters to “stop” Kiesewetter and “not allow him to continue” because of his support for arms deliveries to Ukraine. With his plea for the use of German weapons against targets on Russian territory, Kiesewetter was “bringing the war to Germany,” said the BSW boss at the time. She added: “This is madness. People like this must be stopped. They must not be allowed to continue.”
The Bloomberg news agency reported on the comments on Tuesday and said that Kiesewetter had filed a criminal complaint against Wagenknecht on suspicion of incitement. However, the CDU MP denied the incident to WELT, saying that there had been no complaint and that Bloomberg’s report was incorrect.
According to Bloomberg, Kiesewetter also filed a complaint against Wagenknecht’s husband, the former Left Party politician Oskar Lafontaine. Lafontaine, who spoke in Saarbrücken immediately after Wagenknecht, had called, among other things, for “crazy people” like the CDU politician to be “locked up” because they were unconstitutionally calling for war. Kiesewetter wants open conflict with the nuclear power Russia and is thereby risking World War III, said the now 80-year-old.
Kiesewetter is “playing with fire” when he demands that Germany “send missiles to Moscow and destroy ministries there,” said Lafontaine to the cheers of his supporters. “They really should be locked up because our constitution criminalizes calls for war.”
Wagenknecht defended her husband at the “politicians’ grilling”. In Germany, preparing for war is not compatible with the Basic Law. “And if someone says that we have to take the war to Russia with German weapons, then I also think that is clearly in conflict with our Basic Law and our constitution,” Wagenknecht continued. And she added: “I think that has to be stopped.”
Last Saturday, Kiesewetter was physically attacked and slightly injured by a man at an election campaign stand in Aalen, Baden-Württemberg. The attacker, who according to investigators comes from the so-called lateral thinker scene, insulted the 60-year-old CDU politician as a “warmonger” and, according to witnesses, knocked him to the ground.
In 1990, Lafontaine was the victim of an assassination attempt as the SPD’s candidate for chancellor. At an election campaign event in Cologne, a mentally disturbed woman stabbed Lafontaine with a knife, critically injuring him.
WELT TV editor-in-chief Jan Philipp Burgard will be hosting Sahra Wagenknecht for “politician grilling” on Thursday, June 6, 2024, at 8:15 p.m., a new format on WELT TV. Other guests in the coming weeks include CDU leader Friedrich Merz and Federal Minister of Agriculture Cem Özdemir (The Greens). The event can be seen on WELT TV, in the livestream on WELT.de and afterwards in the media library.
