For the first time in post-World War II Germany, a far-right political party has won a state election. The openly extremist right-wing Alternative für Deutschland (AfD) achieved a “historic success” in the eastern state of Thuringia on September 1. This victory serves as a grim reminder of the first Nazi state election win in 1930, which also occurred in Thuringia. 

The AfD was founded in 2013 with a strong foundation in the formerly communist eastern region of Germany. While it is already classified as right-wing extremist by domestic intelligence, the party has radicalized even further than other European far-right parties, such as the Sweden Democrats, the Finns Party, and the Dutch Party for Freedom. Sociologist Wilhelm Heitmeyer posits that one of the most concerning elements of the AfD is its embrace of an authoritarian national radicalism model, through which it promotes a hierarchically ordered and ethnically homogeneous society. As extremist parties with platforms based on xenophobia gain traction, governments also face increased pressure to limit immigration so as not to fuel the existing divisive rhetoric further. The party’s blatant anti-Semitism, xenophobia, and Islamophobia motivate the AfD’s political ambitions, linking it closely to Nazism and raising significant concerns among the German public and across Europe. French centrist MEP leader Valérie Heyer shares those concerns, noting that “a dark day for Germany is a dark day for Europe.”

The AfD articulates its political goals in its “Manifesto for Germany,” citing the need to strengthen German borders, voicing their endorsement of German culture over multiculturalism, and touting blatant Islamophobia and xenophobia. The manifesto states that “Islam does not belong in Germany,” and explicitly bans the burqa and the niqab. The manifesto goes as far as to criticize the EU Free Movement Directive and calls for EU legislation to reduce the migration from developing EU nations to more developed ones, such as Germany. If this effort fails to manifest, the AfD demands a restriction of free movement within the EU which grants the host country the ability to control the immigration of job-seekers. 

Some argue that the AfD will be unable to amass significant political influence or governing power since other parties have vowed not to form coalitions with it. However, its unprecedented win has granted AfD more than one-third of the seats in Thuringia’s state legislature, allowing it to block appointments of judges to the regional constitutional court and make changes to the state constitution. In Saxony’s state election, a neighboring state in Eastern Germany, the AfD came in second by a small margin. Furthermore, 36 percent of voters under 30 years old backed the AfD, positioning its popularity with that demographic far in front of Germany’s three governing parties: the Social Democrats, Greens, and liberal FDP. The rise of AfD has shifted the political dynamic leading up to the German federal election next year and thwarted Chancellor Scholz’s chances of being re-elected.

At its inception, the AfD strongly opposed the European Union’s common currency system and the bailing out of the Southern European periphery during the Eurozone crisis. Their initial rhetoric, based on economic grievances and frustration toward aiding foreigners, has now expanded to push a firm anti-immigration agenda. Voters in the recent state election cited immigration, specifically that of refugees and asylum-seekers, as key issues. After a Syrian refugee facing deportation was named as the main suspect in a deadly knife attack in Solingen, xenophobia and anti-immigration sentiment have risen amongst the German population. This rhetoric has entrenched itself into the political arena. Chants of “deport” can be heard at campaign rallies and anthems of “Germany for Germans” and “foreigners out” rang out as Germany hosted the European soccer championships this summer. 

The AfD’s rise to power on the foundation of an anti-immigration notion does not come as a surprise considering the overall spreading of right-wing extremism and populism across Europe. With Viktor Orbán’s inflation of Hungary’s border crises to secure his illiberal and autocratic rule in Hungary, and the Law and Justice Party following suit in Poland, such rhetoric has consistently translated to massive unchecked power. Joe Düker, a researcher at the Center for Monitoring, Analysis and Strategy (CeMAS), also highlighted a similarity between the AfD and former U.S. president Donald Trump. He explained how the more “outrageous” Trump’s discourse was, “the more his followers seemed to commit to him.” The AfD appears to be utilizing the same tactic. The party’s racist, anti-Semitic, and xenophobic remarks are growing increasingly explicit, and yet they are garnering more support while desensitizing the public to their radicalism.

Perhaps the most important facet of the AfD is its close links to Nazism and the eerie similarities between the functions of this party and Hitler’s Germany. The most recent election’s historic AfD victory occurred on the 85th anniversary of the outbreak of World War II. Björn Höcke, one of the leaders of AfD, has already been convicted and fined for employing banned Nazi slogans at political events. His campaign platform explicitly promoted national pride “untainted by historic guilt,” essentially embracing Germany’s Nazi past. Earlier this year, Maximilian Krah was forced to withdraw from campaigning with AfD after he told an Italian newspaper that the individuals in the Nazis’ main paramilitary force were “not all criminals.” Such a drastic departure from the national effort Germany has made to denounce its Nazi history sparks great worry. 

Johannes Kiess, a sociologist at the University of Leipzig specializing in far-right extremism, expressed that the German public is becoming more tolerant of extremists and neo-Nazi rhetoric. She noted that Höcke’s behavior would have likely been called out in the past. However, it seems that “people don’t care anymore.” A lack of meaningful repercussions for the political deployment of extremist language, the overall rise in xenophobia, and support for mass deportations in Germany could all be to blame for increased voter desensitization. Nonetheless, the present-day resemblance to Nazi Germany is growing increasingly clear. An investigative exposé revealed a clandestine meeting between high-level AfD members, known neo-Nazis, and wealthy financiers to develop plans for the forced deportation of foreign nationals and foreign-born German citizens. This meeting occurred near Potsdam and bore a striking resemblance to the 1942 Wannsee Conference held near the same place, in which the Nazis coordinated their plan to execute the Jewish population in Europe.

 Some claim AfD is a populist party, however, it can be argued that despite having a populist style to achieve its aims, the AfD uses populism as a veil for its Nazi ideology. AfD’s harmful language also wields racist implications as the party has employed “dog-whistle politics,” in which they use seemingly innocent words that carry serious and offensive associations. For example, in the AfD youth organization WhatsApp group, a member wrote that they will “stop animal testing–now we have refugees for that [and] we have the final solution for refugees.” Such a comment directly refers to Hitler’s euphemistic phrase “final solution,” instead of “the Holocaust.” Similarly, when the AfD says “one thousand years of Germany,” it is invoking Hitler’s vision of a thousand-year Reich. Moreover, at AfD rallies, when displaying the number 88, attendees are indicating Heil Hitler (the 8th letter in the alphabet is H), or when they show GD 3345 on a car license plate, they mean “Great-Deutschland 1933-1945.” To reduce such blatant anti-Semitic and Neo-Nazi rhetoric to “populist” significantly underestimates the power of the AfD and downplays the danger it poses. 

The AfD’s rise to power could also have implications far beyond Germany. Their success deepens fractures in an already splintering EU political structure as the far-right continues to take hold across Europe. The AfD has consistently contradicted EU calls to support Ukraine following Russia’s aggression in the European theatre. The growing friendly ties between the AfD and Russia directly conflict with EU political and diplomatic efforts as Höcke has spoken favorably of Putin over the US. The AfD leader even declared his first international visit would be to Moscow, not Washington if he became German Chancellor. With Berlin being the second-biggest weapons supplier following the United States, and the AfD openly opposing the delivery of these weapons, the magnitude of the AfD’s victory and its impact on international relations cannot be understated.