The head of the German anti-Islamisation movement Pegida has stepped down after a picture of him posing as Adolf Hitler went viral on the internet. The 41-year-old Lutz Bachmann from Dresden was viewed as the figurehead of the movement and his resignation has led to doubts about the future of Pegida, said a report published on The Guardian.
A picture of Bachmann sporting a Hitler mustache and side-parted hair went viral on Wednesday after local newspaper Dresden Morgenpost published it. Shortly after being contacted by the newspaper, Bachmann deleted his profile.
A Morgenpost reader had discovered Bachmann's picture along with his conversation with a Facebook contact in which Bachmann referred to immigrants as “cattle”, “scumbags” and “trash". State prosecutors have started an investigation against Bachmann on the grounds of sedition after a 12-member Pegida meeting where he apologised for the picture.
Pegida's spokeswoman Kathrin Oertel told Spiegel Online that Bachmman's resignation was the "only possibility for the movement".
“As an association, we reject the Facebook postings made by Lutz Bachmann which have now come to light in the strongest possible terms," said Oertel. "They do nothing to nurture trust in Pegida’s goals or its protagonists."
In response to the picture, Bachmann told German tabloid Bild on Wednesday: "I took the photo at the hairdresser’s, for the publication of the audiobook of the satire He’s Back … you need to be able to joke about yourself now and then".
When he was asked about derogatory statements he made about immigrants, Bachmann responded: “We don’t comment about private matters.”
A spokesman for Bernd Lucke, the head of the political party Alternative für Deutschland which is an anti-euro party that has publicly expressed allegiance with the aims of Pegida, said that Bachmann's “sad utterings and disgusting jokes” had “embarrassed the people of Pegida who have been compelled by honest concerns to take to the streets”.
Bachmann has been convicted for assault, burglary and drug possession multiple times in the past. According to German intelligence services, he has also been a target for Islamist militants who wrote on social media that they intended to kill him. Due to this, Pegida's 13th demonstration scheduled to take place in Dresden next week was cancelled.
Pegida, which has been receiving growing support with its last demonstration gathering 25,000 supporters, has vowed to meet again next week. However, the movement's future is uncertain with Bachmann no longer leader.
The group's Leipzig offshoot Legida, was scheduled to meet on Wednesday evening and 100,000 pro-and-counter-protesters were expected to gather. However, town officials banned Legida as they planned to march through a historical route which was used in the city for anti-communist protests in 1989.
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In Pegida’s first ever press conference in Dresden on Monday, Bachmann and Oertel insisted that the group was not racist. On the other hand, they distanced themselves from footage showing Pegida demonstrators delivering racist remarks.
However, Bachmann has made efforts in the past to stress his pro-foreigner credentials by posting photographs on Facebook of his Turkish best man, mentioning he has "Muslim friends".
Meanwhile, a Catholic priest who took part in a demonstration organised by the Dügida, an offshoot of Pegida in the western city of Duisburg on Monday, has been banned from preaching by his religious elders after he compared the movement to the Crusades.
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