German police probe video of neo-Nazi handing balloons to kindergarten kids

German authorities are investigating a video showing a man in neo-Nazi clothing handing balloons to kindergartners a day after the country’s main far-right party won control of a county administration.

The video was taken yesterday in front of a kindergarten in Sonneberg county, according to regional lawmaker Katharina Koenig-Preuss of the Left party.

The video, which was posted on social media today and could not immediately be independently verified, shows a man in a T-shirt depicting a Nazi-era soldier and the words “Wehrmacht wieder mit?” on the back. The phrase is a play on words that roughly translates as “Who’s going to join again?”

The man is also wearing red, white and black shorts — colors that are usually associated with the German Reich — as he takes blue balloons from his car and hands them to excited children on the other side of a fence.

The car bears the words “volunteer deportation helper” on the back, and one of the balloons in the car appears to have the swoosh logo of the anti-immigrant Alternative for Germany party. Blue is the party’s signature color.

Sonntag wurde in #Sonneberg ein #AfD’ler zum Landrat gewählt. Montag verteilte ein #Neonazi in Kindergarten der Region übrig gebliebene Luftballons der AfD. Auf seinem Auto „Ehrenamtlicher Abschiebehelfer“. Auf seinem T-Shirt Aufdruck „Wehrmacht wieder mit“.
Es ist nur krass. pic.twitter.com/hvQA0qcQDb

— Katharina König-Preuss ???? (@KatharinaKoenig) June 27, 2023

The party’s candidate won a run-off election Sunday for Sonneberg county commissioner. It was the first time Alternative for Germany, or AfD, has taken charge of the executive at a county level, prompting concerns about a rise in voter support for far-right ideology in a country still grappling with its Nazi past.