German anti-Islam leader quits after posing as Hitler

The leader of Germany’s anti-Islam group PEGIDA has resigned after a picture appeared online of him posing with a Hitler-style moustache and haircut. Lutz Bachmann apologised to supporters of the Patriotic Europeans Against The Islamisation Of The West (PEGIDA) and announced he would be stepping down. A photograph of the 41-year-old looking like the Nazi leader went viral on social media on Wednesday. Media reports also published comments posted on Facebook by Mr Bachmann in which he referred to refugees as “beasts” and “filth”.

I earnestly apologise to all citizens, who felt attacked by my postings. They were ill-considered comments that I wouldn’t make in this way today.

Lutz Bachmann

PEGIDA spokeswoman Kathrin Oertel said that the picture was “satire, which is every citizen’s right”, but added “sweeping insults against strangers” had gone too far. The image was posted in September, weeks before he founded PEGIDA in Dresden, eastern Germany. The group has staged weekly demonstrations in Dresden since this month’s terror attacks in Paris, which saw 17 people killed. Bachmann and Oertel have distanced themselves from neo-Nazis who have joined PEGIDA protests.

Anyone in politics who poses as Hitler is either a total idiot or a Nazi.

Germany’s Vice Chancellor Sigmar Gabriel

Europe Lutz Bachmann