German Karlsruhe – screaming very loudly, he barely needed the microphone, and Martin Hess had an indomitable message to his German alternative opponents.
“We won’t let anyone stop us!” Hess, a former Policman, said he became a lawmaker at the AFD, as is more commonly known.
Hess, 54, is a suitable, stocky man with drill-sailing hair and brave neck, talking on “German Zoost!” on Wednesday. – Or “Germany first!” – A meeting in the western city of Karlsruhe.
It is a crucial moment for the AFD ahead of Germany’s national election Sunday. The party barely voted at 21% – double the last vote of 2021, and maybe second place is enough.
This is part of a far-right surge in Europe where Hardline nationalists have already built relationships with President Donald Trump’s White House. Musk and Vice President JD Vance both support the AFD, who spoke at a recent rally on video conference, with one of its leaders attending Trump’s inauguration.
On Sunday, the overall expected Victor is Friedrich Merkel, former leader of the Christian Democratic Union, and former Prime Minister Angela Merkel, topped with a 28% poll. The current prime minister, Olaf Scholz of the Social Democratic Union, suffers third most at 16%. It was his coalition collapse, a disagreement over the German budget deficit, that sparked this snap vote.
The final results expected on Monday have a global response. The world’s third largest economy has enjoyed decades of stable, consensus-driven politics led by Nazi memories. Voting on Sunday could lead to drastic changes.
“We want to establish a new conservative partnership, as we can already see in the US,” said Marc Bernhard, another AFD MP, who was found at the conference center in Karlsruhe, with mostly white people, mostly white people. A male audience washed the sausages and pretzels. Down with Fiji Pilsner.
In Duisburg, the northern city, AFD candidate suscalling told NBC News that US support is “incredibly important” and “a huge upside.” At a rally in nearby Maar, supporters put on hats, “Make Germany great again!”
A new German friend at the White House wants to implement undocumented immigrants, massive deportation of throttle border security, shrink the state and cut taxes. The party rejects established climate science and wants to abolish support for Ukraine in favor of improving Russian ties, and says young Germans should stop guilt over the Holocaust.
It has horrified several Jewish groups, including the International Auschwitz Commission, which describes the AFD as a “threat to democracy.” It is also part of the reason why the AFD continues to be a pariah of Bundesags, whose party has vowed to support an informal “firewall” for far-right cooperation, which is considered a breakwater against fascism.
These concerns are not limited to Congress. Germany’s domestic BFV intelligence agency is monitoring the AFD on allegations of far-right extremism, upheld by two levels of district courts.
The AFD response has echoed the Trump federal agency overhaul. Bernhard wants to reform judicial services and intelligence reporting agencies, so he will refocus on “more independence” and “real dangers” such as “Islamist terrorism.”
Opponents fear that these institutions may appear to have been revamped by parties denounced extremist rhetoric.
Supporters of leader Alice Weidel mean “Alice for Germany, Alice Germany.” It is almost gay of the motto used by Adolf Hitler’s paramilitary SS, “Ageres Far German Land” or “All for All for All Germany.”
Bernhard labeled it “silly” and “bull—” to suggest that supporters intentionally used the slogan. He said “98% of the population” did not know that this was “used by any organization in the Third Reich.” However, some observers say it is a provocative wordplay that the AFD unfolds to skirt German laws that ban Nazis support.
The Afd Firebrand Björn Höcke was judged to have crossed that line last year. He was fined 13,000 euros (approximately $13,500) for using the slogan at a campaign rally. Hecke, a retired history teacher, said he had no idea it was related to SS.
NBC News has asked the White House, Weidel and Höcke to comment on the US AFD relationship and party policies and rhetoric.
AFD supporters ask how they can bias the party when led by Weidel (46), a former investment banker who speaks a mandarin with a Sri Lankan-born same-sex partner. She says this is consistent with the AFD platform of opposing same-sex marriage in favor of “traditional families” of fathers, mothers and abundant children, in order to offset mass migration.
Others disagree. The German Lesbian and Gay Federation said last month that Weidel simply “serves as a figure that is supposed to disguise the party’s massive anti-fire sentiment.”
Until recently, she was considered relatively moderate. That changed last month when Weidel first used the term “retreat” to advocate for a massive deportation of undocumented immigrants or earners who committed crimes.
It sparked a stir in a country that remembered the deportation and murder of Jews and other groups. Still, support for this idea is driven by recent moments of famous attacks by people from immigrant backgrounds. It published a study this week that despite researchers at the University of Munich, found a decline between migration and crime rates.
The study “proves nothing,” AFD MP Hess said in Karlsruhe. “Everyone who believes these attacks have nothing to do with transition is crazy.”
This stance is wary not only for liberals but also for large corporations. CEOs such as Deutsche Bank and Volkswagen have warned against deportees of migrant workers that Germany desperately relies on.
Bonnie Tagrupp, the managing partner of the textile dynasty, founded by great grandfather in 1919, said:
The company is based in Bahredingen, a small town with snowy roofs and forested hills, about two hours southeast of Karlsruhe. In last year’s European elections, almost 40% of local residents voted for the AFD.
This shows how the party grew west beyond its East German base. Here, the German giant has not escaped the crisis of global life, and is on the verge of a recession.
The AFD begged not only those who kept their wallets close, but also young people who accepted the familiar use of Tiktok. In summer European elections, support rose 11% in elections between 16 and 25 years of age.
“Germany is really unsafe. Immigration is uncontrolled and something has to change,” said Yusuf, 18, among a group of teenagers at AFD events in Karlsruhe.
“I first thought the AFD was a fascist, but I knew that the AFD was not a fascist party, so I let myself know,” said Tunisian grandfather in Germany in the 1960s. Yusuf added. He refused to give him a last name and left when asked if he had experienced racism within the party.
Returning to Burladingen, Carolin, a tax advisor, he pauses when asked which party she will vote for.
“The blue thing,” she said.
She refused to give her last name either. She was wary of being judged by her friends and family. She disagrees that AFD policies will limit abortions or deny women’s room assignments. “But people are upset with the government because they can’t pay the bills, and I hope they fix it.”
This sudden groundwell disappointed 76-year-old Irwin Stager. He has lived here for 50 years and retired last year as a non-party political mayor.
He believes that the loss of local butchers and bakers or the decline in community spirit may have helped AFDs in areas with few direct experiences of migration. He believes that while the AFD offers criticism, there is little actual solution. He fears not only domestic politics, but also the risk that wars in Ukraine could spread to Europe if Kiev was abandoned to the West.
“The world is upside down,” he said of the rapid upheavals in Germany and Washington. “For peace, not just for our democracy,” he added.
