Siemens Chief Executive Joe Kaeser on Friday revealed he received a death threat from apparent right-wing extremists, reports DW.
Kaeser, who has led the German industrial giant since 2013, subsequently shared a screenshot of the email threat he received earlier this month on Twitter.
The email sent from the address adolf.hitler@nsdap.de mentions politician Walter Lübcke, who was killed last month in what has been labelled a politically motivated incident.
The all-caps message says: "Shut your sanctimonious, filthy mouth!!! People like you desperately need the same treatment as Lübcke [the murdered German politician]. You disgusting, communist pig!"
Es gibt lediglich Anzeichen, dass sogar in der Hölle die Digitalisierung Einzug gehalten hat: Der Teufel hat jetzt auch E-Mail. Unten ist seine Botschaft an mich.
— Joe Kaeser (@JoeKaeser) July 12, 2019
Meine Botschaft zurück: #neverforget #NieWieder #NazisRaus 2/2 pic.twitter.com/xtZfV6m351
As Kaeser alluded to the email address, claiming to be that of Adolf Hitler and his NSDAP party, he remarked: "It seems that digitalisation has even arrived in hell. The devil now has email too."
He added: "My reply: #neverforget #NieWieder [NeverAgain] #NazisRaus [NazisOut].
The current death threat received by Kaeser comes in the wake of the murder of German politician Walter Lübcke. Lübcke, who had become a target of threats for supporting Chancellor Angela Merkel's refugee policies, was found dead in his garden on 2 June in what the Federal Prosecutor's Office said was a political assassination linked to neo-Nazi extremists.
Stephan E. was arrested on DNA evidence two weeks after the incident. The alleged perpetrator had past convictions for violent anti-migrant crime and had been linked by several German media outlets to the neo-Nazi scene.
He later confessed to Lübcke's murder. Against the backdrop of the murder investigation, Cologne's mayor and several other German politicians were revealed to have also had their lives threatened, with police claiming threats likely stem from neo-Nazi extremists.
Reports point to the victims being targeted for their pro-refugee stance. Interior Minister Horst Seehofer said Germany's federal and state security agencies must improve their cooperation in order to combat extremists "who are prepared for violence," reported DW.
Chancellor Angela Merkel’s policy on migrants and refugees, which has seen an unprecedented number of people arriving to seek asylum in Germany since 2015, has been a divisive issue, with the German intelligence agency repeatedly warning of trouble brewing in the neo-Nazi circles.
