The Bavarian Prime Minister supported the deputy in the story with an anti-Semitic leaflet

The head of Bavaria refused to fire his deputy because of an anti-Semitic leaflet. Bavarian Prime Minister Markus Söder supported Hubert Eivanger after he apologized for a leaflet found in his school bag in the 1980s.

The prime minister of the powerful German state of Bavaria has said he will not fire his deputy despite a scandal over an anti-Semitic leaflet he admits he carried in his schoolbag as a teenager.

According to The Guardian, Markus Söder said firing Hubert Eivanger would be disproportionate – a move that would overturn the ruling coalition in Germany’s southern state six weeks before regional elections.

Hubert Eiwanger, leader of the populist Free Voters party, which is a junior coalition partner of Markus Söder’s conservative Christian Social Union (CSU), has faced days of controversy over Nazi pamphlets found in his schoolbag in the late 1980s.

Markus Seder said at a press conference on Sunday that he did not take the decision lightly.

The Bavarian prime minister said he was following a “deliberate process” that was fair and orderly.

According to Söder, Hubert Eivanger made serious mistakes in his youth, but he convincingly distanced himself from them and apologized. According to him, there was also no evidence that Ivanger created or distributed the leaflet.

For his part, Ivanger’s brother stated that he was the author of this text. The document offered a satirical quiz on “the biggest traitor to the fatherland” and offered a prize of “a free trip down the chimney to Auschwitz.”

Seder criticized Ivanger for not apologizing sooner and said he needed to show remorse.

The Bavarian leader also said that Ivanger’s written responses to a list of 25 questions put to him by the government were not all satisfactory.

“Hence my serious and well-intentioned advice: even if it all happened a long time ago, it is important to show remorse and humility,” he said.

Hubert Ivanger said that he was the victim of a smear campaign that failed.

This leaflet came into being after an investigation by the Süddeutsche Zeitung newspaper. Ivanger’s older brother chimed in and said he was the author of the leaflet shortly after it was published.

Ivanger was under pressure from the German federal government to make a quick decision and draw a line under the case.

Saskia Esken, co-chair of Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s centre-left Social Democratic Party (SPD), which is in opposition in Bavaria, said on Monday that the regional government should not be infamous.

The decision not to fire Ivanger allows Seder to keep his 2018 coalition government intact until October 8 regional elections, in which mail-in voting has already begun.

The latest opinion polls show Seder’s support at 39%, giving him a solid lead, with free voters gaining about 12% in a tough fight against the far-right ADH.

“We will be able to continue the civil coalition in Bavaria,” Söder said. “There will definitely be no black-and-greens in Bavaria,” he added, referring to rumors that he might change partners and unite with the Green Party.

German Interior Minister Nancy Feser accused Söder of putting political tactics first.

“Herr Eivanger did not offer a convincing apology and was unable to convincingly rebut the allegations,” she told the RND newspaper group. Instead, she said, he made himself a victim “and doesn’t give a second thought to those who continue to suffer en masse from anti-Semitism.”

“The fact that Herr Söder allows this damages the reputation of our country,” she added.