German singer Heino pushes back against the far-right AfD
What happened
Heino (real name Heinz Georg Kramm), an 87-year-old German folk pop singer with over 55 million records sold, has become a controversial figure due to his choice of songs, including recordings of pieces previously sung by the Nazi SS and his 1977 recording of all three verses of the German national anthem. In 2018, he presented an album featuring SS-associated songs to North Rhine-Westphalia's Minister for Homeland Affairs, sparking media controversy.
Felix Teichner, a regional AfD politician from Brandenburg, posted election advertising on social media stating "On Sunday, Heino would vote for Felix." Heino's manager responded that this was unacceptable political appropriation, noting Heino has publicly spoken against the AfD. Teichner subsequently signed a cease and desist declaration.
Heino is now considering a damages claim against Teichner. Political scientist Niklas Ferch of Justus Liebig University in Giessen stated that such legal defeats are unlikely to damage the AfD's support among its core electorate, as they reinforce the party's populist narrative of criticizing elites.
Who's perspective
The article is written from a German cultural and political reporting perspective, likely by a journalist covering domestic politics or culture at Deutsche Welle, Germany's international public broadcaster. This shapes the piece to assume reader familiarity with German postwar sensitivities around nationalism, and frames Heino's legal action as culturally significant rather than merely a routine intellectual property dispute.
Taken for granted
The article takes for granted that Heino's opposition to the AfD is straightforward and credible, treating his legal action as a clear 'pushback' against the far-right. It leaves largely unexamined the alternative framing that Heino's decades of controversial song choices — including SS-associated material and all three verses of the national anthem — might complicate the picture of him as a clear opponent of far-right appropriation.
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