Germans are pushing back as the influence of the far right grows
Tens of thousands of people have taken to the streets in recent days in protest against the far-right Alternative for Germany party, better known as AfD. Lawyers debate whether the party can be banned. Political leaders warn of a fundamental threat to society.
“I will say it clearly and out loud: right-wing extremists are attacking our democracy,” Chancellor Olaf Scholz said in his weekly magazine video message for the Germans on Friday. “They want to destroy our cohesion.”
While it is not unusual for German politicians to warn against the far-right, the alarm has taken on new urgency since it emerged that far-right leaders had held a secret meeting late last year to discuss mass deportations – not just of illegal migrants. but even from German citizens who have immigrated to the country, whom they do not consider fully assimilated.
“It is the famous straw that breaks the camel's back,” says Matthias Quent, a sociologist who has studied the far right for years. “It was a trigger for something and it is not just about the meeting, but about the strengthening of the AfD, which scares a lot of people.”
The AfD has been surging in the polls for months as dissatisfaction with Germany's cumbersome three-party government has grown along with fears of uncontrolled immigration. While only 10 percent of Germans voted for the AfD in the last national elections in 2020, the party is currently polling at record levels: just under 25 percent across the country, and well above 30 percent in the eastern states, where later this elections will be held every year.
Fears of a rising AfD have turned almost into panic since Correctiv, a small crowdfunded investigative news site, unveiled the private meeting last week of politicians, businessmen and several neo-Nazis in late November.
The main speaker at the event was an Austrian far-right advocate, Martin Sellner, who uses the term “remigration,” a buzzword in the extremist scene that denotes long-term deportation strategies.
Mr Sellner confirmed he was part of the meeting, but denied talking about deporting German citizens – despite publicly calling for it.
Correctiv documented the meeting using hidden cameras, witness statements and an undercover reporter, who checked into the hotel where the meeting took place under a false name.
The meeting, organized by a right-wing dentist and a businessman behind a successful chain of self-service bakeries, brought together about twenty participants who were asked to donate 5,000 euros. The meeting took place in an elegant country hotel near Potsdam, Germany, not far from the villa where Nazi officers planned the “Final Solution,” their terrible plan to murder European Jews, more than eighty years ago.
“The vocabulary is no different, the place is no different – the only difference is that we have been there before,” says Andrea Römmele, professor at the Hertie School in Berlin.
News of the meeting reverberated across the country. On Wednesday evening, theaters across the country broadcast professional actors performing an interpretive reading of Correctiv's report.
The reaction of the AfD, which is trying to distance itself from the far right, has been mixed. Roland Hartwig, who had attended the meeting, was forced to resign as personal advisor to Alice Weidel, one of the party's two leaders. For her part, Ms. Weidel has accused Correctiv of using “secret service methods.”
René Springer, a far-right MP from Brandenburg, the state where the meeting took place, wrote on X: “We will deport foreigners back to their home countries. Millions of them. This isn't a secret plan. It's a promise.”
The AfD is being monitored by the Office for the Protection of the Constitution as a suspected extremist group, a designation that gives the intelligence services greater surveillance capabilities. The agency found that the party is moving further to the right, to the point where it threatens the rights enshrined in the Constitution. Several state chapters are already considered extremist groups.
Since details of the November meeting were announced last week, thousands of people have taken to the streets in Berlin, Potsdam, Freiburg, Cologne and elsewhere. A demonstration on Friday in Hamburg attracted more than 80,000 people, according to the union that co-organized the demonstration. More demonstrations are planned this weekend.
“These demonstrations do not necessarily mean that the AfD's ratings will drop again,” said Professor Römmele. “But what it does show is that the silent majority is no longer silent – it is an important signal, both nationally and internationally.”
On Wednesday, after an estimated 30,000 people rallied against the far right in the western city of Cologne, Mr. Scholz voiced his support. “I am grateful that today tens of thousands of people are taking to the streets all over Germany – against racism, hate speech and for our liberal democracy,” he said in a post on there are many – many more than those who want to divide.”
During a special session of the country's parliament on Thursday, Nancy Faeser, the country's interior minister, who is responsible for national security, joined the chorus of those warning of danger. “The greatest threat to our fundamental democratic order is right-wing extremism,” she told lawmakers.
But the AfD's increasing appeal has created a dilemma over what to do about it. Many of her supporters say they already harbor deep distrust of the government and feel increasingly unheard and disenfranchised. Many of its opponents fear that banning the party would only reinforce these feelings.
Yet more than 700,000 people have signed an online petition to consider a ban on the AfD. Marco Wanderwitz, a politician from the conservative Christian Democrats who was previously responsible for dealing with East Germany, is trying to convince his colleagues in parliament to vote for such a ban.
But not everyone is convinced that banning the party completely is a good idea.
“The most effective means against the enemies of democracy are not repression, bans and the like,” Philipp Amthor, another Christian Democrats lawmaker, said on Thursday. “The most effective means to maintain a defensible democracy are better arguments, good politics and good governance.”