‘Greater Germany’ map stirs tensions with France

PARIS

A board member of the youth wing of Germany’s far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) has resigned after posting a map showing French territory as part of Germany, drawing condemnation from French lawmakers.

Generation Deutschland, the party’s youth wing, announced on Oct. 10 that Luca Maurice Strauf had stepped down from its national board for “personal reasons.”

Strauf, who uses the name Helmut online, posted the map on X on Oct. 3, German Unity Day. It included areas of Alsace and Moselle, as well as territory in Austria, Switzerland, Italy and Luxembourg.

“German unity means a Germany that unites the entire German people in one state,” he wrote in the subsequently deleted post.

French far-right National Rally lawmaker Théo Bernhardt condemned the remarks, saying: “Alsace and Moselle are French and will remain so.”

Clémence Guetté of the left-wing France Unbowed party compared the idea of a “Greater Germany” to Adolf Hitler’s policies and expressed concern about the AfD’s rise and its implications for peace in Europe.

Strauf told German newspaper taz that he had not called for annexations, saying he intended to refer to Germany and Austria’s shared history. The youth wing’s leadership also distanced itself from the post.

Alsace and Moselle changed hands between France and Germany several times before returning to French control at the end of World War II.