The nationalist Alternative for Germany party is distancing itself from a member who reportedly described as a "traitor" a leader of a failed 1944 attempt by officers to assassinate Adolf Hitler.
The daily Die Welt reported today that Lars Steinke, head of the party's youth wing in Lower Saxony state, said he posted the comment on his private Facebook page July 29.
It reported that Steinke's post assailed the plot's best-known figure, Claus Schenk Graf von Stauffenberg, and described it as "a coward's shameful attempt to save his own skin from the oncoming victor."
Alternative for Germany co-leader Joerg Meuthen said Steinke's comments "are completely unacceptable, show an absurd understanding of history and have absolutely no place" in the party. He said party leaders will consider the matter next week.
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