Germany’s history of racial intolerance has been resurrected from beyond the grave. Recently the far-right Neo-Nazi group, Alternative for Germany (AfD), has been making waves in the European country’s political scene. Anti-fascist groups have spoken out against the far-right group and their desire to deport foreign-born citizens.
Who Is the AfD?
The Alternative for Germany is a far-right group that was founded in 2013. The right-wing party has been getting a lot more attention. Moreover, the group had its’ first Member elected to office last year in a local leadership position. Additionally, a December 2023 poll has shown that support for the party has raised 23%.
It’s been theorized that support for the group is rising due to the public’s fears of social tensions and overworking their government. The AfD is hoping for electoral wins in the German states of Thuringia, Saxony, and Brandenburg.
However, Germany’s major political parties are refusing to work with the AfD due to their bigoted views. Particularly, dealing with immigration.
It was reported that representatives from AfD, members of Germany’s center-right Christian Democratic Union party, as well as neo-Nazis, had met up and held a meeting about a new immigration plan. They even almost ceremonially held the meeting within a hotel near Potsdam, the infamous site where Nazi officers had made the final plan to kill the Jewish people in Europe in 1942.
Protest Against Far-Right Group
Over the weekend of January 21st, more than a million German citizens rallied together to protest against the AfD. There were over a hundred different locations that held protests in cities such as Munich. The protest in Berlin was held outside of the Reichstag building.
The Reichstag building is where the lower levels of the German parliament, Bundestag convene. an estimated 100,000 protestors were outside of the building. With the country’s history of Nazism and fascism, protestors have been adamant about halting the far-right group.
The issue of Immigration and how to enforce it has been a large political focus in not just Germany but other European Countries as well. Counties such as Denmark and France have also recently dealt with an influx of migrants and how to handle the large groups has polarized the countries’ citizens as well.
The plans were introduced by Martin Sellner, an Austrian far-right political activist that has ties with Neo-Nazi groups. The policies he had discussed dealt with deporting asylum seekers, those who are “non-German” yet still have residency rights, and German citizens that were deemed to be “non-assimilated”.
Also, the German Chancellor, Olaf Scholz had made a public response at a protest he had attended. Scholz stated how the AfD’s plans were “an attack against our democracy, and in turn, on all of us.”
Similarities Between Germany and the United States
Europe isn’t the only continent in the West that has high tensions with the rate of immigration. The U.S. also has a long history of polarizing ways immigration has been treated. There are states like Illinois Which is considered a refuge state. Chicago alone has housed more than 34,000 asylum seekers since August 2022.
Not only that, since 2022 more than 80,000 migrants have been flown or bused to six of the U.S. sanctuary states. The forced transportation of them has left thousands without, resources, shelter, food, or necessary medical care. Further, spaces in shelters have been dwindling, and homeless populations.
This is similar to how spaces in Berlin aren’t able to house as many migrants that are coming. The German immigrant level even increased by six percent from 2021-2022. While in the U.S., immigrants crossing the border had gone down 14% in October 2023.
However, both Germany and Texas have many people who have come looking for ease from poverty, and war, and searching for an easier life.
Written By AriAnna Rathers
Sources:
US NEWS- Why Are Germans Protesting?
Texas Tribune-Texas flies over 120 immigrants to Chicago in expansion of Gov. Greg Abbott’s busing plan
Euro News- Germany approves legislation easing asylum seeker deportations
Featured Image Courtesy of Stefan Müller (climate stuff, 4 Mio views)’s Flickr Page– Creative Commons License
Inset Image Courtesy of Rasande Tyskar’s Flickr Page – Creative Commons License
