section_path: Ideology and platform/German nationalism
section_name: German nationalism
paragraph_text: German nationalism
  
  Over time a focus on German nationalism, on reclaiming Germany's sovereignty and national pride, especially in repudiation of Germany's culture of shame with regard to its Nazi past, became more central in AfD's ideology and a central plank in its populist appeals. Petry, who led the moderate wing of the party, said that Germany should reclaim völkisch from its Nazi connotations, while the more right-wing Björn Höcke regularly speaks of the Vaterland ("fatherland") and Volk ("nation" or "people", but with a strong ethnic or racial connotation).
  
  In January 2017 Höcke in a speech stated, in reference to the Berlin Holocaust Memorial, that "Germans are the only people in the world who plant a monument of shame in the heart of the capital" and criticized this "laughable policy of coming to terms with the past ". Höcke continued that Germany should make a "180 degree" turn with regard to its sense of national pride.