Awakening of German Patriots - Central Germany | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Leader | Benjamin Przybylla |
| Chairman | Bernhard Wedlich |
| Founder | André Poggenburg |
| Founded | January 11, 2019 (2019-01-11) |
| Dissolved | 2020 |
| Split from | Alternative for Germany |
| Headquarters | Steinweg 18e 01662Meissen |
| Ideology | Ethnic nationalism German nationalism Right-wing populism Euroscepticism |
| Political position | Far-right |
| Colours | Light blue |
| Election symbol | |
| Cornflower | |
Awakening of German Patriots - Central Germany (German:Aufbruch deutscher Patrioten – Mitteldeutschland, short-form:AdPM) was a German political party that splintered from theAlternative for Germany (AfD) and was established byAndré Poggenburg on January 11, 2019, following his forced resignation from AfD in 2018.
In 2018, Poggenburg, the leader of the AfD'sSaxony-Anhalt branch, was reprimanded by AfD leadership for messaging "Germany for Germans" to party members overWhatsApp.[1] Later that year he resigned from the party after a censure for callingGerman Turks "camel drivers" and "caraway seed traders" in a speech to party supporters.[2]
Following his ousting from the AfD, Poggenburg formed his own political party, the Awakening of German Patriots, unveiling the party to the German public on January 11, 2019, immediately being faced with criticism for including theCornflower on the party logo. The Cornflower has long been a symbol of German Nationalists, first developed byGeorg von Schönerer as a symbol ofpan-Germanism it became a symbol of support for theKaiser and later as a secret symbol of theNazi party of Austria during the period from 1933 to 1938 when the party was banned; and most recently as the symbol of theFreedom Party of Austria until 2017.[3][4][5]
Poggenburg announced that the party would follow what had been the AfD's party line from 2017 and prior, before what Poggenburg called a "shift to the left" within the party when it began to expel its more radical members.[6] Poggenburg stated that the party intended to contestupcoming elections, and could enter regional parliaments.[7] He also stated that the party intends to be a "middle German movement," with branches in Brandenburg, Saxony and Saxony-Anhalt.[4]
In their first election, the May2019 Saxony local election, the party received only 0.6% of the vote in theZwickau district and 0.4% of the vote at theMeißen district.[8] In the September2019 Saxony state election the party only won 0.2% of the votes cast.
After the poor performance in the local elections, Poggenburg applied at the August 2019 party congress for the party to dissolve and rejoin the AfD. The vote was rejected and Poggenburg left the party.[9] The party has staged no public events since spring of 2020 and only had 45 registered members.[10]
Poggenburg later endorsed theFreie Sachsen (Free Saxons) for the2024 Saxony state election.[11]