Like first that “Stuttgarter Zeitung” and the “Newspaper publisher Waiblingen” reported that a disturbing video shocked the AfD in Baden-Württemberg. The recordings, which are said to be around 20 years old, show Rouven Brechlin, AfD local politician in the Waghäusel-Philippsburg city association (Karlsruhe district), impersonating Hitler.

Video shows AfD city councilor with Hitler beard and swastika armband

In a disused Bundeswehr bunker, Brechlin, with a Hitler beard, side parting and a swastika armband, steps up to a lectern decorated with a Nazi flag. Amid cries of “Sieg Heil” from the audience, he shouts, echoing Nazi rhetoric: “We will fight for this people, from midnight tonight we will fire back.”

After the video became known to the party leadership, Brechlin pulled the ripcord. According to the AfD state office, he resigned from the party at the beginning of December 2025. “By leaving, he anticipated proceedings so that they were not continued,” the “Stuttgarter Zeitung” quoted the party as saying. Among other things, Brechlin was discussed as a replacement candidate for the state elections and was deputy parliamentary group leader in the local council. He now wants to resign his mandate.

Karlsruhe criminal police are conducting an investigation

The judiciary is also involved. The Karlsruhe criminal police are conducting an investigation. According to the reports, there is “initial suspicion of using the symbols of unconstitutional organizations.” It is questionable whether there will be a conviction, as the crimes could become statute-barred after two decades.

Lawyer speaks of “carnival party” and “youthful stupidity”

Brechlin’s legal counsel is trying to smooth things over. He described the appearance to the “Stuttgarter Zeitung” as an “ancient video, a carnival party from 20 years ago, a Hitler parody and youthful stupidity.” His client wouldn’t do something like that again today. The resignation took place “before the wrong light falls on the party”.

The lawyer also accuses a former party colleague of having copied the video from Brechlin’s cell phone without authorization in order to harm him in the course of internal disputes. The whistleblower contradicts this and provided screenshots that are supposed to prove that Brechlin himself bragged about the video in the summer of 2025 and sent it via WhatsApp.

Criticism of the AfD leadership’s late reaction

Experts doubt that the depiction is a harmless parody. Rolf Frankenberger from the Institute for Right-Wing Extremism Research explains in the “Zeitungsverlag Waiblingen” that the production appears highly professional and shows no distancing: “The performance is at least tasteless to the point of forgetting history.”

Spicy: The video had apparently been available to the AfD state chairman and top candidate for the state election, Markus Frohnmaier, for a long time. Critics accuse the party of only acting when publication by the media was imminent.