The leader of the far-right German party Alternative for Germany (AfD) said Adolf Hitler was really a communist during a live conversation with tech billionaire Elon Musk.
Alice Weidel said the “greatest success” of postwar Germany and Europe was changing the perception of Hitler from a communist to a far-right figure.
Despite being notably anti-communist and invading the Soviet Union, Ms Weidel said of Hitler: “He wasn't a conservative. He wasn't a libertarian. He was this communist, socialist guy.”
She also called the dictator an “antisemitic socialist” during the 74-minute conversation broadcast on Mr Musk's social media platform X.
She said: “He was a communist and he considered himself as a socialist. The biggest success after that terrible era in our history was to label Adolf Hitler as right and conservative. He was exactly the opposite.
“He wasn't a conservative. He wasn't a libertarian. He was a communist socialist guy. Full stop. No more comment on that. And we are exactly the opposite.”
During their conversation, the pair also discussed Germany's bureaucracy, “wokeness”, need for tax cuts, free speech, and its “crazy” abandonment of nuclear power.
Although sections of her party are classified as right-wing extremists by German authorities, Ms Weidel insisted it's “conservative libertarian” and blamed the mainstream media for “negatively framing” it as extremist.
Ms Weidel also claimed her party is the “only protector” of Jewish people in Germany as the other parties have let “millions of people in … [to] commit thousands of crimes on our streets”, forcing many to flee.
Mr Musk has been a vocal supporter of AfD, drawing the anger of Germany's main parties who see him and Ms Weidel as threats to democracy. He argues the country has been “infected by the woke mind virus”.
The Tesla CEO said AfD represents “only common sense” and there should be “nothing outrageous” about its policies. He said: “People need to get behind the AfD, otherwise things are going to get much worse in Germany.”
After slamming Chancellor Olaf Scholz as an “incompetent fool” and continuing to back AfD, Mr Musk was told to get his “hands off our democracy” by the Green Party's Robert Habeck.
A YouGov poll released earlier this week revealed that 59% of Germans expected Mr. Musk's endorsement of AfD to improve their chances at the next election in February.
However, 68% said they think he doesn't know enough about German politics to be giving his opinions.