The director of the foundation that oversees the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp memorial has greeted a proposal that would bar members of the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party from serving on its board of trustees.

"The AfD is a revisionist party that does not conform to our purpose of honoring the victims," Jens-Christian Wagner, the head of the Lower Saxony Memorials Foundation that oversees the camp site, told DW.

Nazi Germany was responsible for the systematic extermination of an estimated six million Jews. Some 50,000 people lost their lives in the concentration camp Bergen-Belsen; among them was the acclaimed diarist Anne Frank.

A number of AfD politicians have been accused of Holocaust denial — a criminal offense in Germany.

Read more: Controversy over far-right AfD member joining former concentration camp board

Keeping them out

Any party represented in Lower Saxony's state parliament currently has an autonomic right to send an appointee to the foundation's board. After the AfD won seats in October following regional elections, Wagner proposed changing the law.

Holocaust survivors also expressed their alarm at the prospect of politicians affiliated with Holocaust deniers having any involvement in the Bergen-Belsen memorial.

The friendly faces of the AfD? Germany's new parliamentary representatives Siegbert Droese The head of the AfD in Leipzig was the center of controversy in 2016 when newspapers reported that a car in his motor pool had the license plate: "AH 1818." "AH" are the initials of Adolf Hitler. 1 and 8, the first and eighth letters of the alphabet, are considered a code for Adolf Hitler among neo-Nazi groups.

The friendly faces of the AfD? Germany's new parliamentary representatives Sebastian Münzenmaier As the AfD's lead candidate in Rhineland-Palatinate, the 28-year-old Münzenmaier cruised to a seat in the Bundestag. Münzenmaier made headlines in October when he was convicted of being an accessory to assault in a case of football hooliganism. But because that's considered a minor offense, he is able to exercise his mandate.

The friendly faces of the AfD? Germany's new parliamentary representatives Albrecht Glaser The 75-year-old former CDU man is the AfD's choice for Bundestag vice-president, but members of the other parties say they won't approve his candidacy. Glaser once opined that Muslims shouldn't enjoy freedom of religion because Islam is a political ideology. Critics reject that view as unconstitutional.

The friendly faces of the AfD? Germany's new parliamentary representatives Markus Frohnmaier Frohnmaier is the chair of the party's youth organization, Junge Alternative. The 28-year-old wrote in August 2016 on Facebook that "our generation will suffer the most" from Merkel's decision to "flood this country with the shoddy proletariat from Africa and the Orient."

The friendly faces of the AfD? Germany's new parliamentary representatives Martin Reichardt The former soldier from Lower Saxony once told a journalist that he had no problem with "Germany for the Germans," a phrase that is often used by neo-Nazi groups. He has also collectively described the Green Party and The Left party as "constitutional enemy No. 1."

The friendly faces of the AfD? Germany's new parliamentary representatives Wilhelm von Gottberg The 77-year-old from Brandenburg was vice president of the Federation of Expellees (BdV) until 2012. He wrote in the newspaper "Ostpreussenblatt" in 2001 that he agreed with the statement that the Holocaust was a "myth" and an "effective instrument to criminalize the Germans and their history."

The friendly faces of the AfD? Germany's new parliamentary representatives Jens Maier In January, the Dresden judge railed against the "creation of mixed nationalities" that are "destroying national identity." He has also called for an end to Germany's "culture of guilt" surrounding the country's actions in the Second World War.

The friendly faces of the AfD? Germany's new parliamentary representatives Beatrix von Storch The AfD's vice-chair is an MP in the European parliament and is known for her hardline conservative views. In 2016, she replied affirmatively to a Facebook user who had asked her whether armed force should be used to stop women with children from illegally entering Germany. She later apologized for the comment.

The friendly faces of the AfD? Germany's new parliamentary representatives Alexander Gauland One of the AfD's top candidates, Gauland was widely criticized after suggesting that the German government's commissioner for integration, Aydan Özoguz, should be "disposed of" in Turkey because she had said that there was no specifically German culture beyond the German language.

The friendly faces of the AfD? Germany's new parliamentary representatives Alice Weidel The 38-year-old economist was the AfD's other top candidate. Despite living in Switzerland, Weidel ran for the Baden-Württemberg constituency of Bodensee. She drew criticism for describing Germany's integration commissioner Aydan Özoguz, who has Turkish roots, as a "stain" and a "disgrace." In a contested email attributed to Weidel, she called Angela Merkel's government "pigs" and "puppets."

The friendly faces of the AfD? Germany's new parliamentary representatives Frauke Petry For a long time Frauke Petry was the face of the AfD, and she's one of the more recognizable figures in the Bundestag. But she's no longer a member of the right-wing populist party. Petry quit shortly after the election after falling out with other leaders. Because she won her voting district outright, she still gets a Bundestag mandate, where she sits as an independent. Author: Alex Pearson



State lawmakers from the four other parties — the Christian Democrats (CDU), Social Democrats (SPD), Greens and Free Democrats (FDP) — responded with a bill that would reduce the number of board seats reserved for state politicians to four. It would also require a parliamentary vote for each appointment.

The bill is expected to become law in the coming weeks.

Read more: AfD: What you need to know about Germany's far-right party

'Lesser of two evils'

Wagner said he would have preferred reducing the total number of political appointees to one or two. Only allowing four parties out of five represented in the parliament to send appointees, he said, could bolster the AfD's own narrative of being the "victim."

Since winning seats at the state level and entering Germany's lower house of parliament last fall, the AfD has accused the media of one-sided coverage and criticized mainstream parties for refusing to work with its representatives. Nevertheless, Wagner thinks excluding the AfD is a wise decision.

"It's a question of what is the lesser evil: Either give the AfD the opportunity to present itself as the victim or have a party on the board that publically argues against the foundation's mission," he said.

"I would rather do without the AfD."