How my colleague ended up as spokesman for an 'almost neo-Nazi party'

At that time, the party was focused on Europe’s financial crisis. It had conservative views on the economy. It opposed Germany bailing out Greece and other European countries in debt.
That’s why Hessenland joined. He thought the bailouts would send Germany into major debt, and the government wouldn’t have the freedom to make its own decisions on the country’s budget.
“I thought, 'This is endangering democracy. Not only the democracy inside Europe, but also the democratic structures inside Germany,'” Hessenland says. “I didn’t like to lose them.”