Germany: Nationalist Leader Seeks Renewed Use of Nazi-Era Term

Via ABC News (h/t glykosymoritis):

A leading member of Alternative for Germany, the nationalist party whose recent elections successes have shaken the country's political system, faced fierce criticism Monday after calling for a racially charged term favored during the Third Reich to be rehabilitated.

Party co-chairwoman Frauke Petry said in an interview published Sunday that words such as "voelkisch" shouldn't be taboo any longer. The term refers to people who belong to a particular race and was frequently used by the Nazis — their party paper was called Voelkischer Beobachter.

"We should finally regain a relaxed, not uncritical but normal way of dealing with our nation and terms such as 'Volk' and words that are derived from it," she told weekly Welt am Sonntag. Asked whether she would include the word "voelkisch," Petry responded that she doesn't use the term herself but dislikes the fact that it is only used negatively.

"Let's work on giving the term a positive connotation," she said.

Her remarks prompted a swift backlash from politicians, commentators and historians who warned that Petry's party — known by its acronym AfD — was trying to legitimize ideas that were once at the core of Adolf Hitler's Nazi ideology.

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