German former MP denounces state agency’s videoclip as ‘racist trash’ – POLITICO

“What unbelievable racist garbage,” former member of the German Bundestag Niema Movassat said of the clip, which depicts the radicalization of a Muslim woman in a manner some X users have described as reminiscent of anti-Jewish propaganda from the 1920s through the 1940s.

“Der Stürmer is back and runs the propaganda department of the Bavarian Ministry of the Interior,” wrote Movassat — who now works as a lawyer — adding that he will examine whether pressing charges is possible. “Muslims are demonized in the clip,” he said.

“Der Stürmer” was a notorious antisemitic newspaper published in Germany from 1923 to 1945, known for its virulent propaganda against Jews and its role in promoting Nazi ideology. 

The ministry’s official X account ran the video — which has been viewed over 900,000 times — shortly after midnight on Monday, just a few hours after results of two eastern German state elections confirmed the far right’s biggest success since World War II. The video was deleted late in the evening.

Ferat Koçak, a member of the Berlin house of representatives, took to X to decry the “hatred” apparent in the video, saying that anyone who is still wondering why the far right is on the rise should see the video.

“The Bavarian Ministry of the Interior (!) is agitating against Muslims with caricatures that are reminiscent of the times of Nazi propaganda against Jews,” he wrote.