BERLIN // The leader of a German anti-Islam group stepped down on Wednesday after a picture surfaced showing him with a Hitler moustache and hair combed over like the Fuhrer.
Lutz Bachmann, co-founder of the Patriotic Europeans against the Islamisation of the West, or Pegida, announced his departure in a statement on Facebook after German tabloid Bild published the photo.
Mr Bachmann did not comment directly on the picture, but apologised for online comments that have surfaced where he called refugees “cattle” and “filthy”.
He called them “ill-considered comments that I wouldn’t make in this way today” and apologised for harming the movement, which has taken pains to distance itself from neo-Nazi groups.
The group has staged weekly demonstrations in the city of Dresden that reached their peak last week, drawing 25,000 people.
This week’s planned rally was cancelled after police said authorities had monitored a Tweet calling for one of the organisers to be killed.
Pegida’s spokeswoman, Kathrin Oertel said the Hitler picture had been satire, but Mr Bachmann’s comments about refugees and German politicians had not “contributed to the trustworthiness” of the group.
Bild quoted Mr Bachmann as saying he had posted the Hitler picture on his Facebook page, apparently some time ago, as a joke.
“One has to be able sometimes to make fun of oneself,” he said.
If it was a joke, nobody was laughing.
"Anyone in politics who poses as Hitler is either a total idiot or a Nazi," Vice Chancellor Sigmar Gabriel told Bild, taking the opportunity to reiterate the government's call for people to stay away from Pegida's weekly demonstrations in Dresden.
Pegida organiser Rene Jahn said the incident was “unacceptable”.
* Associated Press