Town hall faces the dark sun's direction
In the historic town of Meißen, known as the "cradle of Saxony," the race for the next mayor is heating up, with the Alternative for Germany (AfD) aiming for a prestigious success this Sunday. Among the main candidates is René Jurisch, an independent candidate who ran for the AfD in the city council election in June 2024.
Jurisch, who received 30.4 percent of the votes, achieving the best result among all candidates, has been a controversial figure due to his past associations and questionable actions. In the early 2000s, Jurisch was a member of the National Democratic Party (NPD), but he claims to have left due to its "socialist goals" and anti-Semitic stance towards Israel.
However, Jurisch's ties to right-wing extremism have not gone unnoticed. He was a founding member and part of the "Association for the Preservation of Germanic Traditions Black Sun Meißen," which was under surveillance by the Verfassungsschutz due to suspicions of right-wing extremist ideology. Additionally, Jurisch has a tattoo of a Nazi symbol, the "Black Sun," on his upper arm, a symbol used by neo-Nazis that represents the SS.
The "Black Sun" symbol has also been linked to a flyer distributed during the election campaign in Meißen, which showed a Schwibbogen with a Reichsadler from Jurisch's private environment. This has caused outrage, leading the Proschwitz winery and the State Porcelain Manufactory Meißen to take legal action, feeling misused for the AfD campaign.
Jurisch has also been accused of making inflammatory statements against the Democracy and Integration Alliance "Colorful Meißen." In a video by the far-right magazine "Compact," he accused the association of being "deeply intertwined with the Antifa." This led to the AfD in the city council withdrawing municipal funding for the alliance in April.
In addition, a banner with the slogan "Stop the human-made population change" was allegedly hung in front of Jurisch's house. This controversy has sparked concerns about his suitability for the mayoral position.
Despite the controversies surrounding Jurisch, he currently leads the city council faction in Meißen, with nine members, more than twice as many as the CDU, after the city council election in June 2024. If none of the three main candidates (Jurisch, Markus Renner, and Martin Bahrmann) reaches over 50 percent on Sunday, a second round will take place on September 28, requiring only a simple majority; all candidates may run again.
Meanwhile, an initiative consisting of city council members from several voter associations, as well as SPD, Left, and CDU members, supports Markus Renner, who is one of the most promising candidates alongside Jurisch in the Sunday vote. The election in Meißen is expected to be a closely-watched contest, with the outcome potentially having significant implications for the political landscape in Saxony.
On the other hand, André Kämpfe, the next mayor of the AfD in Saxony, won the election in Ohorn, a town east of Dresden with a population of 2,500. The AfD has also expressed its desire to buy the historic Kornhaus building in Meißen, adding another layer of complexity to the mayoral race.
As the race for the mayoral position in Meißen unfolds, it is clear that the town is at a crossroads, with the outcome of the election likely to shape its future for years to come.
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