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by\u00a0Thomas Klikauer<\/p>\n
Germany\u2019s new chancellor\u00a0Friedrich Merz<\/a>\u00a0has a history, one that he does not like to highlight. His Opa or grandfather was a\u00a0Nazi<\/a>\u00a0and it is this Nazi past that he is trying to keep extremely quiet about.<\/p>\n Yet, Friedrich Merz\u2019s very own grandfather joined Hitler\u2019s Nazi party \u2013 the\u00a0NSDAP<\/a>\u00a0\u2013 himself and very willingly. Interestingly, his Opa became a Nazi member earlier than what was previously known.<\/p>\n Throughout Germany\u2019s immediate post-Nazi years,\u00a0ex-Nazis<\/a>\u00a0\u2013 and not so ex-Nazis (read: those who continued to believe in Nazi ideology well into the 1950s and 1960s) \u2013 tried everything to hide their\u00a0Nazism<\/a>, their Nazi party membership, their SS connection, and most of all, their\u00a0Nazi crimes<\/a>.<\/p>\n Today, we know that top-Nazi\u00a0Josef Paul Sauvigny<\/a>\u00a0is the grandfather of chancellor Friedrich Merz. In the 1930s, Merz\u2019s Nazi Opa made a\u00a0\u201cpersonal effort\u201d<\/em>\u00a0to become a member of\u00a0Hitler\u2019s Nazi party<\/a>.<\/p>\n As we know today, Merz\u2019s Nazi Opa applied for membership in the\u00a0Nazi Party<\/a>\u00a0earlier than formerly known. Despite all denials and sophisticated deceptions, eventually, the truth emerged.<\/p>\n Documents, that have been hidden in an archive but are available today, refute the earlier statement by\u00a0Friedrich Merz<\/a>\u00a0to sell the fairy-tale that his grandfather had become a member of the Nazi party and as Merz rather improperly had claimed,\u00a0\u201cwithout his own intervention\u201d<\/em>.<\/p>\n Wrong, Herr Merz! Despite\u00a0Merz<\/a>\u2019s best efforts, the reality is coming out, slowly and definitely too late.<\/p>\n There is the personal file of top-Nazi\u00a0Josef Paul Sauvigny<\/a>\u00a0in Germany\u2019s\u00a0State Archive<\/a>\u00a0at North Rhine-Westphalia. The documents even hold the actual extract from Sauvigny\u2019s NSDAP member file.<\/p>\n These files proved that\u00a0top-Nazi Sauvigny<\/a>\u00a0became a member of the Nazi Party as early as May 1st<\/sup>, 1937. Merz\u2019s Opa\u2019s Nazi party number is:\u00a0425 82 18<\/a>.<\/p>\n According to the personnel file in the state archive, Sauvigny submitted his\u00a0Nazi party<\/a>\u00a0application for membership between May 1933 and February 1936.<\/p>\n The file also states that\u00a0Merz<\/a>\u2019s grand-daddy\u00a0\u201c<\/em>worked diligently<\/em><\/a>\u201c<\/em>\u00a0as an\u00a0SA storm-trooper<\/a>\u00a0(read: street thug,\u00a0bullies<\/a>\u00a0and political\u00a0killers<\/a>). In short, he supported the Nazi party\u00a0\u201cas much as possible\u201d<\/em>.<\/p>\n Meanwhile, Josef Paul Sauvigny featured as mayor of the\u00a0North Rhine-Westphalia<\/a>\u00a0town of<\/em>\u00a0Brilon<\/a>\u00a0from 1917 to 1937 \u2013\u00a0Hitler<\/a>\u2019s coup to power was in 1933.<\/p>\n In 2004 and long before becoming chancellor, Sauvigny\u2019s grandson \u2013 Friedrich Merz \u2013 was the vice-president of Germany\u2019s conservative party, the\u00a0CDU<\/a>.<\/p>\n In the year before that (in 2003),\u00a0Merz<\/a>\u00a0did what his reactionary friends call,\u00a0\u201cthe storming of the red town hall.\u201d<\/em>\u00a0It was to eliminate a democratically elected\u00a0progressive<\/em>\u00a0town hall \u2013 of\u00a0Brilon<\/a>.<\/p>\n With his anti-democratic battle cry of attacking the elected assembly in his local city, Merz had crossed the line. Ever since this anti-democratic incident,\u00a0Merz<\/a>\u00a0has lost every single mayoral election in Brilon.<\/p>\n To his personal infuriation,\u00a0Merz<\/a>\u00a0was never able to repeat what his Nazi Opa had done: become the mayor of Brilon.<\/p>\n Merz\u2019s assault on the town hall was done by specifically alluding to the Nazi grandfather. Hitler\u2019s SA or\u00a0Sturmabteilung<\/a>\u00a0were not called\u00a0storm troopers<\/a>\u00a0for no reason. In 2003, Merz and his troupe wanted to follow\u00a0Hitler\u2019s SA<\/a>\u00a0\u2013 implicitly or not.<\/p>\n The SA had\u00a0stormed<\/a>\u00a0many German town halls in\u00a01933<\/a>\u00a0\u2013 the year of Hitler\u2019s ascendency to power \u2013 to eliminate\u00a0democracy<\/a>.<\/p>\n Merz did all this by proudly referring to his\u00a0Nazi grandfather<\/a>\u00a0in front of his party apparatchiks.<\/p>\n Before converting to Hitler\u2019s Nazi ideology, Merz\u2019s grand-dad was a member of the \u00a0Catholic Centrist Party called\u00a0Zentrum<\/a>. Merz\u2019s Nazi Opa was a member of the Zentrum until 1933 when he mutated into an out-and-out Nazi.<\/p>\n While a number of members of the\u00a0Zentrum<\/a>\u00a0party joined the resistance against the Nazis \u2013 and many of them were persecuted by the Nazis \u2013 Merz\u2019s Opa \u2013 Sauvigny \u2013 did the opposite: he actively joined the Nazi thugs.<\/p>\n Decades later and rather deceptively, Merz continued to claim that his grandfather had joined the\u00a0Nazis<\/a>\u00a0\u201cwithout any action of his own\u201d<\/em>. As we now know, this is not true.<\/p>\n Beyond that, there was automatism that converted catholic\u00a0Zentrum<\/a>\u00a0members into brazen\u00a0Nazis<\/a>. Instead, it was said about Merz\u2019s granddad that he supported the Nazi party\u00a0\u201cas much as possible\u201d.<\/em><\/p>\n All of this contradicts Merz\u2019s claims, ruses, and falsehoods. Next to all that, documents in Germany\u2019s archives also show that on the issue of\u00a0Nazi<\/a>\u00a0party membership, Merz\u2019s grand-dad himself had\u00a0\u201csigned the application for admission\u201d<\/em>.<\/p>\n Sauvigny\u2019s very own signature was a condition for admission to the\u00a0Nazi party<\/a>. He signed. Most likely, Merz\u2019s grandfather also had to prove that he was of Aryan stock \u2013 with the infamous\u00a0Ariernachweis<\/em><\/a>.<\/p>\n Such an\u00a0Ariernachweis<\/em>\u00a0was needed just to make sure that no\u00a0Untermensch<\/a>\u00a0was able to sneak into the Nazi party \u2013 an ideologically zealous party\u00a0obsessed with race<\/a>.<\/p>\n It is reasonable to suggest that Merz knew about his family history all along. And this is precisely the reason as to why Merz has hardly ever spoken publicly about his grandfather\u2019s Nazi past.<\/p>\n To hide this, Merz\u2019s deceptions continued deep into a podcast of one of Germany\u2019s most recognised weekly newspapers \u2013\u00a0Die Zeit<\/a>.<\/p>\n This podcast appeared early in the year 2025, around the time of Germany\u2019s national election campaign. In it, Merz even claimed that his grandfather had,\u00a0\u201cfallen into the abysses of Nazism\u201d<\/em>.<\/p>\n Obviously,\u00a0Nazis just fall into Nazism!<\/em>\u00a0No action needed. Not even signing your membership application and not even providing an\u00a0Aryan Certificate<\/a>.<\/p>\n To the question of an\u00a0interviewer<\/a>\u00a0that the grandfather\u2019s Nazi story\u00a0\u201cmust have been known in the family\u201d,<\/em>\u00a0Merz simply replied,\u00a0\u201cyes, of course\u201d<\/em>.<\/p>\n This statement of Merz is remarkable. In the year 2004, Merz was still claiming that his grandfather was\u00a0\u201cnot a Nazi\u201d<\/em>.<\/p>\n Today, this interview proves that Merz already knew what role his grandfather played in\u00a0Hitler\u2019s Nazi Reich<\/a>. And lied about it. Yet, Merz continued to put his Nazi Opa in a positive light.<\/p>\n Unsurprisingly, Merz likes to avoid responding to journalists who inquire into his grandfather\u2019s Nazi past.<\/p>\n Instead, Merz\u2019s party \u2013 the CDU\u2019s \u2013 press office claims,\u00a0\u201cfrom Mr Merz\u2019s point of view, there have been no new findings about the Nazi involvement of his grandfather since 2004\u201d<\/em>\u00a0\u2013 the year Merz was forced to admit the truth \u2013 that Merz\u2019s Opa was a Nazi \u2013 for the first time.<\/p>\n Instead of admitting the inevitable truth, Merz goes on the attack. Merz had commented on the reporting of his Nazi Opa in 2004 that he was\u00a0\u201cdisgusted\u201d<\/em>\u00a0by journalists who shed light on his very own grandfather.<\/p>\n Merz was\u00a0\u201cdisgusted\u201d<\/em>\u00a0because the truth about\u00a0 his Nazi Opa started to emerge. Yet, he was not disgusted that his Opa was a faithful and diligent Nazi.<\/p>\n Around that time,\u00a0Merz<\/a>\u00a0still insisted that his grandfather had\u00a0\u201crefused\u201d<\/em>\u00a0to join Hitler\u2019s Nazi party.<\/p>\n Merz\u2019s wrongfully claimed that his Nazi Opa had\u00a0refused\u00a0<\/em>to become a member of the Nazi Party. This is contradicted by the fact that a\u00a0hand-signed Nazi party application form<\/em>\u00a0\u2013 signed by his Opa \u2013 does exist.<\/p>\n Meanwhile, Merz also claimed that his\u00a0grandfather<\/a>\u00a0was simply\u00a0\u201ctransferred\u201d<\/em>\u00a0from Hitler\u2019s\u00a0street fighting thugs<\/a>\u00a0\u2013 the SA \u2013 to Hitler\u2019s Nazi party\u00a0\u201cwithout any action\u201d<\/em>. As if, being an SA member wasn\u2019t enough!<\/p>\n One is almost surprised not to find that Merz\u2019s claims that his Nazi Opa suddenly realised, \u201cOh! I am a Nazi\u201d, \u201cI did not know that\u201d, \u201cThe devil must have signed up for me!\u201d and \u201cI became a Nazi with no action required\u201d.<\/p>\n It is striking that many of Merz\u2019s statements about his Nazi-Opa were lifted from his grandfather\u2019s very own statement which he had used to\u00a0exonerate himself<\/a>\u00a0when forced to appear in front of the\u00a0Denazification<\/a>\u00a0Commission, which was set up in the year 1946.<\/p>\n In other words, the conservative Merz followed the ideological lead of his\u00a0SA-Opa<\/a>\u00a0when seeking to\u00a0whitewash<\/a>\u00a0his Opa\u2019s Nazism.<\/p>\n Meanwhile, it stands to reason that Merz has accepted the wrongful claims of a Nazi-grandfather for self-absolution.<\/p>\n What is important is that, as a loyal SA man, Nazi-Opa Sauvigny was rather\u00a0\u201czealously engaged\u201d<\/em>\u00a0in Hitler\u2019s SA.<\/p>\n Worse, Nazi Sauvigny had been\u00a0\u201cfanatically active as an SA man from the very beginning\u201d<\/em>\u00a0\u2013 at least that is what his own SA wrote about Merz\u2019s Nazi Opa.<\/p>\n A document from February 1936 by the local\u00a0Nazi Ortsgruppenleiter<\/a>\u00a0stated that Sauvigny\u2019s application for Nazi party membership had been made after 1st<\/sup>\u00a0May, 1933.<\/p>\n At the time when Merz\u2019s Opa joined the Nazis, the Nazi party actually issued a stop to new admissions to the party.<\/p>\n It was done because millions of careerists wanted to join the party after the Nazis had taken over the government.<\/p>\n The ban was gradually lifted again in 1937. Yet, the local Nazi\u00a0Ortsgruppenleiter<\/a>\u00a0noted about Sauvigny that\u00a0\u201chis relationship with the Nazi party is not bad and that he supports them whenever possible\u201d<\/em>. Merz\u2019s Opa was a Nazi.<\/p>\n However, it is clear that Merz\u2019s claim about his grandfather becoming a Nazi party member\u00a0\u201cwithout any help\u201d<\/em>\u00a0cannot be sustained.<\/p>\n On 2nd<\/sup>\u00a0July, 1937, a local newspaper \u2013 the\u00a0Sauerl\u00e4nder Zeitung<\/a>\u00a0\u2013 wrote about Merz\u2019s Nazi Opa,\u00a0\u201chis national [read: Nazi] attitude [allowed him to] always manage his office in the spirit of Nazism\u201d<\/em>.<\/p>\n Today, Friedrich Merz staunchly remains unwilling to publicly deal with his Nazi past.<\/p>\n Given Merz\u2019s Nazi past, it is deeply worrying that, when journalists questioned Merz about his\u00a0CDU<\/a>\u00a0party\u2019s\u00a0dealings<\/a>\u00a0with Germany\u2019s\u00a0neo-fascist AfD<\/a>\u00a0and about the lessons learned from Germany\u2019s\u00a0Nazi history<\/a>, he was evasive.<\/p>\n Worse, when a journalist from the\u00a0AP news agency<\/a>\u00a0asked Merz about his Nazi grandfather, Merz reacted with an insult saying,\u00a0\u201cI would be grateful if you would not use inappropriate comparisons from my family\u201d.<\/em><\/p>\n On the 80th<\/sup>\u00a0anniversary of the victory over Nazism, the\u00a0taz newspaper<\/a>\u00a0has once again confronted the newly elected chancellor, Friedrich Merz with new findings about his Nazi grandfather. A request by the newspaper to his\u00a0party\u2019s press office<\/a>\u00a0remained unanswered. Merz\u2019s political party prefers to remain silent.<\/p>\n All in all, the story of Merz\u2019s Nazi grandfather isn\u2019t surprising. Merz\u2019s Nazi grand-daddy was one of millions of\u00a0profiteers<\/a>\u00a0who had willingly and consciously joined and enjoyed the Nazi system.<\/p>\n Today, we know that Merz\u2019s Nazi grandfather \u2013 even as mayor of Brilon \u2013 was an ardent supporter of\u00a0Adolf Hitler<\/a>.<\/p>\n Despite this, Merz continues to claim that his Nazi grandfather was not a Nazi by simply saying,\u00a0\u201cfrom what I know from my family, my grandfather was an impressive personality and a successful mayor\u201d<\/em>. It\u2019s a classic: another Nazi past vanishes into thin air.<\/p>\n Some claim that his Nazi grandfather was Merz\u2019s\u00a0\u201cgreatest role model\u201d<\/em>. Tellingly for Germany, during the recent\u00a0election campaign<\/a>, Merz\u2019s Nazi Opa hardly made an appearance.<\/p>\n Once again,\u00a0Merz\u2019s-Nazi-Opa<\/em>\u00a0scandal shows that there is hardly any\u00a0Learning from the Germans<\/em><\/a>\u00a0<\/em>asSusan Neiman<\/a>\u00a0claimed recently.<\/p>\n Instead, Germans, particularly those with a Nazi Opa, continue to evade and hide\u00a0the truth<\/a>\u00a0about Nazism.<\/p>\n Meanwhile, Merz\u2019s story of denial continues. Only very recently, Merz talked about his Nazi grandfather. It was in mid-January 2025. Merz spun the following story,<\/p>\n \u201cI also got to know this grandfather \u2026<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n he died in 1967 \u2026<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n when I was 13 \u2026<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n [he] as a centre politician\u201d<\/em><\/strong>.<\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\n During Merz\u2019s Nazi Opa\u2019s tenure as mayor, two streets in\u00a0Brilon<\/a>\u00a0were renamed into\u00a0\u201cAdolf-Hitler-Stra\u00dfe\u201d<\/em>\u00a0and\u00a0\u201cHermann-G\u00f6ring-Stra\u00dfe\u201d<\/em>. Merz\u2019s Opa and Nazi mayor delivered.<\/p>\n Today, questions are still asked whether Merz \u2013 with his camouflaging non-explanations about his Nazi grandfather \u2013 is contributing to the current political climate in Germany that praises\u00a0Nazism<\/a>.<\/p>\n On 21st<\/sup>\u00a0of May, 2025, the TV-channel\u00a0\u201cMDR\u201d<\/a>\u00a0reported that right-wing and Neo-Nazi\u00a0violence<\/a>\u00a0in Germany has increased by 48%. On the same day, another\u00a0Neo-Nazi<\/a>\u00a0terror\u00a0squadron<\/a>\u00a0is uncovered in Germany.<\/p>\n Thomas Klikauer<\/strong>\u00a0has over 800 publications (including 12 books) and writes regularly for BraveNewEurope (Western Europe), the Barricades (Eastern Europe), Buzzflash (USA), Counterpunch (USA), Countercurrents (India), Tikkun (USA), and ZNet (USA). One of his books is on Managerialism (2013).<\/p>\n
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