The AfD in Baden-Württemberg is shattered; two camps are fighting each other before a special party conference. It’s about real estate transactions, personal details – and always: AfD leader Alice Weidel.
Open war – this is how the state in which the AfD Baden-Württemberg currently finds itself can be described. At the weekend, the regional association is electing a new board, and in the party’s chat groups, two camps are fighting fiercely for sovereignty and power: there are criminal charges, allegations of threats and dirty real estate deals – there is talk of “betrayal” and “destructive characters” and of “unsustainable conditions”.
The background is a camp dispute that has been simmering for years and is dividing the state association in Baden-Württemberg. While it used to be run primarily between right-wing nationalist and right-wing extremist camps, opinions have long been divided when it comes to staff. A central figure: AfD leader Alice Weidel.
Because Baden-Württemberg is Weidel’s home association. Weidel was chairwoman here from 2020 to 2022. She wanted to pacify the association, but failed and made many bitter opponents in the process. In the federal party, Weidel is a boss without real power – unlike her co-party leader Tino Chrupalla, she can never rely on the unity of her home association, but has to fear the most violent attacks from there. Nevertheless, according to current planning, she wants to run as the AfD’s top candidate for the 2025 federal election, and probably even as the party’s candidate for chancellor.
Weidel himself does not want to run for the presidency in Baden-Württemberg again this weekend. But the board there is a good starting point for harming her. There are suspected to be some corpses in the basement. Every state party conference in Baden-Württemberg is therefore a proxy war with high stakes and a big goal: gain power over the board in order to protect the queen – or overthrow her.
Feud against Weidel
When it comes to Weidel and Baden-Württemberg, it’s somehow always about Dirk Spaniel. The Bundestag member is Weidel’s biggest open enemy in the party, her eternal adversary. He was also state chairman in Baden-Württemberg, directly before Weidel. And to this day he wages a private feud against her and repeatedly challenges her in internal party elections.
Spaniel usually loses – but sometimes it’s surprisingly close. Some people in the AfD regretfully say that his approach to getting votes is clumsy, at least less skillful than Weidel and her supporters. And sometimes he’s unlucky, otherwise he would probably have managed to score a point against them.
Because Weidel may be seen in public as the face of the AfD. But within the party, among the officials, she is by no means assured of a majority.
The Weidelians and the Dirkians – the Baden-Württemberg regional association is divided into these two camps within the party. The fronts between them have become extremely hardened for years, and they repeatedly fight for sovereignty on the state executive board. Currently the Dirkians, i.e. the anti-Weidel side, still have the upper hand: 7:6. A razor-thin majority of one vote.
But the board positions are occupied by Markus Frohnmaier and Emil Sätze Weidelianer – or: “Weidel’s porters”, as they are also called in the opposing camp. A distribution that repeatedly leads to blockages, to heated arguments and to bitter disagreements in board meetings.
Camp fight with tough bandages
The temporary highlight of this power struggle will be the special party conference this weekend. It became necessary because 22 of 36 district executives called for it. The opinion of these AfD leaders at the district level: The state executive board is no longer able to work, there have been “potential data protection violations, threats of physical violence and insults.” At least that’s what it says in a message from a district board to its members, which is available to t-online. Frohnmaier and Sanzen would therefore confirm that “sensible communication is no longer possible”. Before the local elections in June, this situation must be changed and the board of directors must be re-elected.
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