Mass deportations and separate schools for refugees: The far-right AfD’s vision for Germany

Annegret Hilse/Reuters

The Alternative for Germany (AfD) has surged to first place in state elections in Saxony-Anhalt, winning 44% of the vote. But the anti-immigrant, pro-Russian party fell three seats short of an absolute majority, meaning it must either find a coalition partner or try to rule from a minority position.

Both options mean many of their manifesto ideas may never come to fruition , as mainstream parties in Germany have for years refused to work with the party, creating what has been dubbed a “firewall” against the far-right.

One route might be a deal with the left-wing populist BSW party, which on Monday criticized the firewall and which shares some of the AfD’s criticism of Germany’s policies on immigration and Ukraine. AfD leaders in Saxony-Anhalt are also courting the more right-wing factions of the mainstream conservative Christian Democrats (CDU) – though Germany’s Chancellor Friedrich Merz has vehemently ruled out any cooperation.

Discussions over potential alliances in the coming days will be critical for the future direction of the state, as Germany’s federal system gives its 16 states significant control over areas including education, culture, policing and public broadcasting.

The AfD – a party German domestic intelligence has classified as “confirmed right wing extremist” – has made no secret of its desire to use power in Saxony-Anhalt as a blueprint for the rest of the nation. Its candidate for state premier, Ulrich Siegmund, told CNN on the campaign trail he hoped a victory for the party would spell the end of some of the “crazy” federal policies.

But first, the party would have to contend with the budget shortfall in Saxony-Anhalt, and the challenges of transitioning from opposition to governing.

As it sits on the cusp of power, here is a closer look at the party’s 258-page manifesto – a radical vision that showcases its aims for the state and beyond.

At the heart of the party’s manifesto is an overhaul of migration policy, including the immediate deportation of irregular migrants, the expansion of mass detention facilities and the return of non-ethnic-German citizens to their country of origin – a policy it refers to as “remigration.”

The AfD argues that the region has “exhausted” its ability to accept refugees, “not only in terms of security policy, but also identity.”

“People who are required to leave the country must be placed in deportation custody under our government,” Siegmund said in a recent interview.

Jan Woitas/picture-alliance/dpa/AP

A section of the AfD’s manifesto calls for a “remigration offensive” against Ukrainian people, claiming they should be returned home because “large parts of Ukraine are considered safe.”

However, Johannes Kieß, Deputy Director of the Else-Frenkel-Brunswik Institute (EFBI) for Democracy Research at Leipzig University, says migration policy is one of the most difficult to act on because states are limited by federal laws and regulations.

“I would expect a great deal of legal uncertainty and chaos,” said Kieß.

The AfD has also frequently called for Germany to end support for Ukraine and develop closer ties with Russia, putting it at odds with other major parties and the federal government, which has been the biggest backer of Ukraine since Russia’s full-scale invasion in 2022.

Education is another key policy area for the AfD. Siegmund has pledged to overhaul Saxony-Anhalt’s school curriculum and “de-ideologize” school, including banning the Pride flag and promoting “traditional” German values.

AfD politicians in Saxony-Anhalt want school lessons to focus on the periods of German history before World War I and World War II, and less on Germany’s Nazi past, in line with the party’s stated desire for Germans to move beyond guilt and focus on national pride.

“More Bismarck, less Hitler,” is how Hans-Thomas Tillschneider, the party’s regional cultural spokesperson, summed it up in an interview with German media.

Peter Gercke/picture-alliance/dpa/AP

“We want a completely new, a completely different education policy,” he said. “Political influence on children, as we experience it – political indoctrination – is not a job for schools.”

The party’s manifesto also calls for segregated classes, with refugee children taught separately by other refugees, and teaching designed to convey the message that staying in Germany is temporary.

Disabled children would also be taught separately under the plans.

The AfD has promised what it calls a “new, patriotic cultural policy,” arguing that state institutions should play a more active role in promoting German national identity.

As part of its state manifesto, the AfD has pledged to defund what it refers to as “anti-German” art.

Asked to clarify what that means, Tillschneider said, “anti-German art is German art that doesn’t want to be German” and cited a performance he had seen where a classical German composer’s work was revised through a “feminist deconstructivism” lens.

The AfD has said artists and institutions that want state funding would be required to sign a pledge that they will not hold Germany and its culture in contempt.

The party’s manifesto states that the previous state government placed too much cultural significance on Bauhaus, Germany’s celebrated art school, as part of its “modern thinking” agenda. For the AfD, the movement lacks a sufficient German identity.

Critics have noted the clear echoes in how the Nazis assaulted modern art.

“The AfD is attacking the Bauhaus, using the very same words the Nazis used 100 years ago,” Culture Minister Wolfram Weimer told the Associated Press. “And that is why democrats, whether they lean conservative or left, are fighting back against it.”

Kieß told CNN that Saxony-Anhalt would quickly become “poorer, both materially and culturally” from AfD policies.

One of the biggest questions facing Germany following the AfD’s electoral success is the efficacy of the so-called “firewall” against the far right.

It is now widely accepted that the policy could have contributed to the far-right’s rise by shielding it from the accountability that comes when parties hold office and face the reality of governing. The firewall also leads to rag-tag coalitions of mainstream parties, that have a difficult time finding policy agreements and getting things done in government.

Even so, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz’s Christian Democratic Union and the other mainstream parties have pledged to keep the firewall in place.

Germany’s far-right set for historic win, short of majority

“If this result is not a mandate to govern, then what is?” Siegmund said at a news conference on Monday. “That is why it is now our goal to organize exactly such a stable majority in the coming days and weeks. … There are different ways this could happen: Either through the support, and indeed the full support, of a parliamentary group or individual members of parliament.”

How things shake out in Saxony-Anhalt could have implications for two other regional elections in Germany this month. In the north-eastern state of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, the AfD is leading with about 35%, according to the latest polling from Infratest dimap. Another strong showing for the AfD could also have wider-reaching implications for Germany’s next federal election, expected in 2029.

Even though AfD only emerged in 2013, polls say that if national elections were held today, it would win most votes.

Annegret Hilse/路透社

德国另类选择党（AfD）在萨克森-安哈尔特州选举中跃居榜首，赢得44%的选票。但这个反移民、亲俄政党距离绝对多数席位还差三席，这意味着它要么必须找到联合执政伙伴，要么只能以少数派身份执政。

这两种选择都意味着他们的许多宣言理念可能永远不会实现，因为德国主流政党多年来一直拒绝与该党合作，从而形成了一道被称作“防火墙”的抵制极右翼的屏障。

一条可能的途径是与左翼民粹主义政党BSW达成协议。BSW周一批评了德国的防火墙，并且与德国选择党(AfD)在移民和乌克兰政策方面存在一些共同的批评。萨克森-安哈尔特州的AfD领导人也在拉拢主流保守派基督教民主联盟(CDU)中更为右翼的派系——尽管德国总理弗里德里希·默茨已明确排除任何合作的可能性。

未来几天关于潜在联盟的讨论对于德国的未来发展方向至关重要，因为德国的联邦制赋予其 16 个州对教育、文化、警务和公共广播等领域的重大控制权。

德国另类选择党（AfD）——德国国内情报部门已确认该党为“右翼极端主义政党”——毫不掩饰其意图，希望利用在萨克森-安哈尔特州的执政经验，为全国其他地区树立榜样。该党州长候选人乌尔里希·西格蒙德在竞选期间接受CNN采访时表示，他希望该党获胜能够终结一些“疯狂的”联邦政策。

但首先，该党必须应对萨克森-安哈尔特州的预算缺口，以及从反对党过渡到执政党所面临的挑战。

在即将掌权之际，让我们仔细看看该党的 258 页宣言——这是一份激进的愿景，展现了该党对国家及其他地区的愿景。

该党纲领的核心是彻底改革移民政策，包括立即驱逐非法移民、扩大大规模拘留设施以及将非德裔公民遣返回原籍国——该党将这项政策称为“再移民”。

德国选择党认为，该地区已经“耗尽”了接收难民的能力，“不仅在安全政策方面，而且在身份认同方面”。

“根据我国政府的规定，必须将那些被要求离开该国的人置于遣返拘留之下，”西格蒙德在最近的一次采访中说道。

Jan Woitas/picture-alliance/dpa/AP

德国选择党的宣言中有一部分呼吁对乌克兰人发起“遣返攻势”，声称他们应该被遣返回国，因为“乌克兰的大部分地区被认为是安全的”。

然而，莱比锡大学埃尔斯·弗伦克尔·布伦斯维克民主研究所 (EFBI) 副所长约翰内斯·基斯表示，移民政策是最难实施的政策之一，因为各州受到联邦法律法规的限制。

“我预计会出现大量的法律不确定性和混乱，”基斯说。

德国选择党也经常呼吁德国停止对乌克兰的支持，并与俄罗斯发展更紧密的关系，这使其与其他主要政党和联邦政府立场相左。自2022年俄罗斯全面入侵乌克兰以来，联邦政府一直是乌克兰最大的支持者。

教育是德国选择党的另一个关键政策领域。西格蒙德承诺彻底改革萨克森-安哈尔特州的学校课程，并“去意识形态化”学校，包括禁止悬挂彩虹旗，并推广“传统”的德国价值观。

萨克森-安哈尔特州的德国选择党政客希望学校课程侧重于第一次世界大战和第二次世界大战之前的德国历史时期，而减少对德国纳粹历史的关注，这与该党希望德国人超越罪恶感、专注于民族自豪感的愿望相一致。

“多一些俾斯麦，少一些希特勒，”该党地区文化发言人汉斯-托马斯·蒂尔施奈德在接受德国媒体采访时如此总结道。

彼得·格尔克/图片联盟/德新社/美联社

他说：“我们想要一种全新的、截然不同的教育政策。我们所经历的对儿童的政治影响——政治灌输——不是学校应该承担的职责。”

该党的宣言还呼吁实行隔离式教学，让难民儿童与其他难民分开授课，教学内容旨在传达在德国的停留只是暂时的。

根据这些计划，残疾儿童也将接受单独教学。

德国选择党承诺推行所谓的“新的、爱国的文化政策”，认为国家机构应该在促进德国民族认同方面发挥更积极的作用。

作为其国家宣言的一部分，德国选择党承诺停止资助其所谓的“反德”艺术。

当被要求澄清这意味着什么时，蒂尔施奈德说：“反德艺术是不想成为德国艺术的德国艺术”，并引用了他看过的一场演出，其中一位德国古典作曲家的作品通过“女权主义解构主义”的视角进行了重新诠释。

德国选择党表示，希望获得国家资助的艺术家和机构将被要求签署一份承诺书，保证不会蔑视德国及其文化。

该党的竞选纲领指出，前州政府在其“现代思想”议程中过分强调了德国著名艺术学院包豪斯的文化意义。德国选择党认为，该运动缺乏足够的德国身份认同。

评论家们注意到，纳粹对现代艺术的攻击方式与此有着明显的相似之处。

“德国选择党正在攻击包豪斯，使用的正是纳粹100年前使用的那些措辞，”文化部长沃尔夫拉姆·魏默告诉美联社。“这就是为什么无论倾向保守还是左翼的民主人士都在反击它的原因。”

基斯告诉 CNN，由于德国选择党的政策，萨克森-安哈尔特州将很快变得“物质和文化上都更加贫穷”。

德国选择党在选举中获胜后，德国面临的最大问题之一是所谓的“防火墙”对极右翼的有效性。

现在人们普遍认为，这项政策可能助长了极右翼的崛起，因为它使极右翼免于承担执政党执政后必须面对的问责责任。此外，这道防火墙还导致主流政党组成松散的联合政府，这些政府难以达成政策共识，也难以在执政期间有效运作。

即便如此，德国总理弗里德里希·默茨领导的基督教民主联盟和其他主流政党仍承诺维持防火墙的存在。

德国极右翼有望取得历史性胜利，但距离多数席位还差一点。

“如果这个结果还不能算作执政授权，那什么才能算呢？”西格蒙德周一在新闻发布会上说。“因此，我们现在的目标是在未来几天和几周内组建这样一个稳定的多数派……这可以通过不同的方式实现：既可以通过议会党团的支持，也可以通过个别议员的全力支持。”

萨克森-安哈尔特州的选举结果可能会对本月德国另外两个州的选举产生影响。根据Infratest dimap的最新民调，在东北部的梅克伦堡-前波莫瑞州，德国选择党（AfD）的支持率领先，约为35%。如果德国选择党再次取得强劲表现，可能会对预计于2029年举行的德国联邦选举产生更广泛的影响。

尽管德国选择党（AfD）直到 2013 年才成立，但民调显示，如果今天举行全国大选，它将赢得最多选票。