It is a spring evening in the small town of Leinefelde-Worbis and a man denounced by his critics as a fascist and as a Nazi who dreams of becoming Germany’s next Führer is telling a cheering audience of several hundred people how their homeland is going to the dogs.
“Is our democracy dying?” is the theme of the meeting in a community centre called Obereichsfeldhalle. According to 52-year-old Björn Höcke the threat comes not from his party, which is being closely watched by the domestic intelligence service, but from an all-powerful state determined to strip away the rights of its citizens.
The meeting is billed as a Bürgerdialog (a dialogue with citizens). During the evening Höcke talks of deporting illegal migrants, takes swipes at
