After a bizarre speech that mimicked much of the rhetorical style of Adolf Hitler at the founding congress of the Alternative for Germany (AfD) youth group, Alexander Eichwald has confessed that he joined the party as a form of provocation.
In an interview with Junge Frieheit, Jean-Pascal Hohm, who serves as the chairman of the youth group, said that: “He deliberately infiltrated the AfD and its youth organization to harm it. The incident shows once again that the political opponent does not shy away from any method, no matter how perfidious.”
Eichwald’s speech, in which he used the term “party comrades” and referred to dog breeds when selecting who is allowed into Germany, drew comparisons to Hitler and his propaganda chief Joseph Goebbels.
While speaking with the Austrian newspaper Der Standard, he cited statements from Alice Weidel as the motivating factor, including Weidel’s statement in January 2025 that Joseph Stalin and Adolf Hitler were “brothers in spirit.”
“For me, as a German from Russia, this is a disgusting and blatant relativization of the war of annihilation against the Slavs, a deliberate disregard for the ‘Lebensraum’ in the East policy of the Nazis and the entire Eastern campaign against the Soviet Union and its peoples,” he said.
Eichwald said that Weidel should never become chancellor.
Stalin was also widely seen as being responsible for the deaths of millions through mass executions, forced labor, and engineered famines, including the forced displacement of various ethnic groups across the Soviet Union. Many historians and countries label his actions as genocide.
Eichwald himself appears to be an ethnic German who left Russia when he was 9 years old, as many Russians of German descent did after the fall of communism.
During the interview, he also said that he agrees with many of the AfD’s policy points.
“The AfD addresses the issues of border protection and domestic security more conscientiously than any other party,” he told Der Standard.
Eichwald also said that his speech did not differ in content from what the AfD promotes. He also said he does not understand why he is being expelled from the party.
“I did not differ in content from my previous or subsequent speaker,” he said.
He said another speaker, Kevin Dorow, used a slogan in the youth group, which he said was used by the Hitler Youth, which is: “Youth must be led by youth.”
Eichwald said regarding his speech’s style, that he wanted to attract attention to what the AfD believes.
He said that many of his statements are what “many say behind closed doors, at the regulars’ table and in the AfD.”
Eichwald’s original speech sparked frenzied speculation about whether he was a plant from Germany’s Office of the Protection of the Constitution (BfV).
Pascal Hohm also did not know who Eichwald was after his speech, telling dpa news agency:
“No matter whether you’re a left-wing provocateur, an undercover agent or simply crazy – anyone who acts like that has no place in the AfD and its youth organization.”
“Alexander Eichwald’s appearance once again showed how important it is to look closely at admission interviews to see who you accept into the party and who you don’t,” he added.
The party announced Eichwald would be expelled, and he was withdrawn from the Herford city council.
