In the Lower Saxony AfD, an “alliance” led by state chairman Ansgar Schledde is supposed to decide on positions and careers, power and money. A party within the party. An AfD member spoke to the taz about “threats, blackmail and embezzlement”. In the state association, Schledde, who is also deputy chairman of the state parliamentary group, is also referred to as the “godfather of the AfD Lower Saxony”.
Anja Arndt openly denounced the conditions in the regional association. In a letter to federal leaders Alice Weidel and Tino Chrupalla, the MEP from Lower Saxony claims that Schledde and his colleagues viewed the party as a business model to enrich themselves “on a permanent basis”. The letter consists of 15 pages plus 78 pages of appendix, reports Bild.
According to Arndt, the alliance was founded in the state parliament on February 10, 2024. In addition to Schledde, today’s Bundestag members Dirk Brandes, Mirco Hanker, Jörn König, Danny Meiners and Angela Rudzka are said to have met in Hanover – including Arndt himself on site. However, the 48-year-old claims to have left the room when everyone present was asked to raise their right hand and swear not to say anything about the network.
“I thought to myself: ‘I’m not taking part in this. This is forbidden,'” she is quoted as saying. That is “the wrong way”. In her letter she also mentions Main Müller. The AfD district chairman in Goslar is said to have belonged to the alliance until last year. “Everyone there gives everyone a job – and anyone who doesn’t want a job, like me, is not welcome,” he is quoted as saying. This method would make people dependent and submissive.
Struggle for power and influence
Around 80 percent of the district chairmen should belong to the alliance. Arndt claims that communication takes place via WhatsApp. A group name: “Alliance Headquarters.”
Internal materials from the AfD, which are available to the taz, also show how Müller himself tried to expand his power. Screenshots from an internal party WhatsApp group suggest that he excluded members from party communication. He founded a new “AfD private group” with the deputy district chairwoman Olga Grabo, who is in a relationship with Müller.
The material leaked to the taz also includes invoices. A visit to a restaurant by Müller and Grabo together with AfD member of the Bundestag Maximilian Krah in Osterode in 2024 cost 533 euros. That year, Krah was still an AfD MEP.
The almost 50-page material is said to have been sent to the state executive board on August 25th last year in the hope of a “regulatory measure”. Brandes, a member of the Bundestag, is also said to have received the letter asking him to inform the federal executive board.
But nothing happened, the AfD member complains to the taz and suspects: Müller has something “in hand” against Schledde. The AfD member of the Bundestag Micha Fehre told the taz that an “exclusion procedure for behavior damaging to the party” was underway against Müller.
The Hanover public prosecutor’s office is investigating Schledde on suspicion of directing 48,000 euros in party donations to his private account
Both letters show that internal power struggles are taking place in the regional association using a variety of means. Brandes wrote to the taz that Arndt and Müller had made such claims out of “personal frustration”. The “story” is “fictitious”. The member of the Bundestag claims that this is reflected in the regional association.
Schledde told the taz: “Anja Arndt and Main Müller were enormously ambitious but difficult characters within our Lower Saxony AfD.” After the two got together, things became more and more absurd. “I wish both of them a healthy and successful life, but perhaps outside of our party,” says Schledde.
But there are other allegations against Schledde: Since 2023, the Hanover public prosecutor’s office has been investigating the 48-year-old on suspicion of directing 48,000 euros in party donations to his private account. In 2024 his business premises were searched.
Things don’t look much better in the neighboring state association of Saxony-Anhalt. There, parliamentary group leader Ulrich Siegmund came under criticism for awarding jobs. Several family members are said to have been employed in offices by the elected official. Siegmund, the Top candidate for the state elections tries to legitimize this hiring practice by saying that family members can be trusted.
This behavior is also criticized in our own milieu. Götz Kubitschek addresses the allegations sezession.net on: Hardly anything could pose a threat to the AfD, almost nothing from outside, “none Remigration debateno Russia debate“, no protection of the constitution, no defamation,” writes the founder of the right-wing extremist Institute for State Policy, which he himself dissolved. Now the damage is there. “There is a crack in credibility,” writes Kubitschek. “Whitewashing isn’t enough, you have to clean up.”