Key facts
- Leaked emails reveal Alice Weidel privately criticized Björn Höcke's nationalist rhetoric as 'deeply problematic' and racially motivated.
- Weidel sought Höcke's expulsion from the AfD in 2017 over his remarks about the Holocaust memorial.
- Weidel later praised Höcke's leadership and suggested he was suitable for a federal cabinet position.
- The revelations stem from a leak of over 420,000 emails and 48,000 documents from internal AfD communications.
Leaked internal communications from the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party reveal that co-leader Alice Weidel privately denounced colleague Björn Höcke's nationalist and racially charged rhetoric between 2015 and 2017. At the time, Weidel warned that such language was alienating mainstream voters and could attract scrutiny from Germany's domestic intelligence service. She even supported a motion to expel Höcke after a speech criticizing the Holocaust memorial. However, years later, Weidel publicly praised Höcke's leadership and suggested he was suitable for a federal cabinet position. The leak, comprising over 420,000 emails and 48,000 documents, was released by hackers seeking transparency.