Dieter Hallervorden's CDU campaign tour sparks row over anti-Merz song and Gaza genocide sign

Anti-AfD campaign with a twist

Dieter Hallervorden, the 90-year-old actor and comedian known as "Didi", has joined the election campaign in Saxony-Anhalt to prevent the far-right AfD from winning an absolute majority. The AfD, classified as right-wing extremist by the state's domestic intelligence agency, is polling at around 40 percent five weeks before the state election. Hallervorden warned that if the SPD, Greens and FDP all fail to clear the 5 percent threshold, the AfD could secure a majority with just 40 percent of the vote. He told the German Press Agency:

If SPD, Greens and FDP fail at the five-percent hurdle, the AfD can already achieve an absolute majority with 40 percent. I absolutely want to prevent that.

Together with actors Axel Prahl and Oliver Kalkofe, he launched a campaign urging voters to back one of the established democratic parties. Hallervorden, who was born in Dessau in 1935 and grew up in the region, told an audience in Halle that he would not campaign for Friedrich Merz at the federal level, but that "with Sven it's different".

Provocative performance

At events in Halle and Magdeburg under the title "Kultur braucht Freiheit" (Culture Needs Freedom), Hallervorden performed a song that sharply criticized Germany's defence policy. Accompanied by images of tanks and falling World War II bombs, he sang:

Hello, Mr War Minister, you asked my son to kill for you in war. Are you marching along yourself? Who benefits from fighting machines, destruction and ruins? Only those who earn from it. In the end it's about money, peace brings nothing in. Mr Merz, if you think war is worth it, then please fight on the moon.

The performance omitted any reference to Russia's war of aggression against Ukraine. A background video during another song briefly showed a demonstration sign reading "Stop the genocide in Gaza". Hallervorden has previously criticized Israel's policies.

CDU leadership distances itself

The federal CDU General Secretary Franziska Hoppermann reacted sharply to the Gaza sign. She told Bild:

For the CDU of Germany it is clear: there is no genocide in Gaza, we stand by Israel and Ukraine in the fight against terror and aggression. We stand for freedom and want to be able to defend ourselves so that we don't have to. Nothing will change about that. We stand for freedom of opinion and art, but there are limits here too - at the very least, art must live with clear contradiction.

The state CDU association defended the format, saying the events were designed to show that people can remain in respectful conversation despite differing views. "We must not unlearn how to argue - different views must be able to stand side by side without losing respect for one another," it said, adding that the party does not endorse every opinion expressed there. The CDU also stressed that Hallervorden had approached Schulze offering support and that the artist was responsible for his own content.

Schulze welcomes counter-speech

Sven Schulze, the CDU's top candidate and current state premier, embraced the controversy. At the Magdeburg event on Wednesday, he asked rhetorically: "Can he hold an event where Dieter Hallervorden sings such a song? I say yes, because that's actually what I envision. I don't want to govern a country where I feel that hopefully everyone says what I say. I also want counter-speech."

What's next

Despite the uproar, the tour continues. CDU state general secretary Mario Karschunke confirmed that events in Dessau and Naumburg next week will go ahead as planned. The Dessau event on Monday has already attracted around 600 registrations. The state election is expected in early September.