Merkel Ally Mocked for Attacking ‘Elitist Hipsters’ Speaking English in Berlin

BERLIN (AP) — A German politician is being mocked for going after hipsters.

Jens Spahn, a 37-year-old deputy finance minister and member of Chancellor Angela Merkel’s conservative party, on Thursday accused “elitist hipsters” of trying to isolate themselves from other Germans by only speaking English with each other.

Spahn’s condemnation in Die Zeit of bearded young men allegedly hanging out in Berlin’s chic downtown cafes and refusing to mingle with “normal Germans” was greeted with derision on Twitter and other social media.

The Green Party tweeted a 1983 photo of their lawmakers, one of them sporting a long, fuzzy beard, sitting in parliament next to former Chancellor Helmut Kohl. The caption — in English — read, “Jens, we looked like hipsters long before you knew you’d hate them.”