Far-right activists, AfD politicians slam proposal for new youth wing ahead of German elections
Many are rallying behind an organization that does not just operate as the AfD’s youth wing but also serves as a bridge between the parliamentary far-right and neo-Nazis.
Since the federal committee of Germany’s far-right party Alternative für Deutschland (AfD) announced last Tuesday plans to establish a new youth wing to replace the Junge Alternative (Young Alternative), criticism both within the party and among extreme-right activists has become loud.
Many are rallying behind an organization that does not just operate as the AfD’s youth wing but also serves as a bridge between the parliamentary far-right and neo-Nazis.“That is exactly the kind of DUMB mistakes that only help those wishing to abolish Germany,” Tommy Frenck, a well-known neo-Nazi and organizer of far-right rock events in Germany’s eastern state of Thuringia, wrote of the decision on Telegram on Tuesday.Martin Sellner, the head of the far-right Identitarian Movement in Europe who champions mass deportations under a plan he calls “re-migration,” commented a day later on X/Twitter: The move should be prevented, as “the risk of a toothless party youth” is too great. The Junge Alternative is the “spark of life of the AfD,” he wrote.
Compact Magazine, a far-right publication that spreads antisemitic conspiracy theories and was banned by the German interior ministry in July before a court overturned the ruling – recommended via a female AI bot that it bizarrely calls an “intern” – that its readers apply to join the embattled youth organization.
Inside the party, AfD politicians have called the proposal “polling poison” and a “sheer mockery,” criticizing that it will harm the party’s chances in the upcoming German election on February 23.
“We are proud of our Junge Alternative,” wrote Jürgen Pohl, an AfD member of the Bundestag on X. The youth organization is the party’s “link to the periphery,” using the German term Vorfeld, which in this context often refers to the extremist, extra-parliamentary fringe.
Junge Alternative
The Junge Alternative was founded in 2013, the same year as the AfD. In 2015, it was officially recognized as the youth wing of the party, although it remains independent. For example, only half of its 2,500 members are also party members.Many have links to other far-right organizations, such as Martin Sellner’s Identitarian Movement, whose members are technically not allowed to join the AfD.The Junge Alternative is an organization in which Hitler-style side-partings, Nazi rhetoric, and combat classes are commonplace. Among its members are activists who have attended the annual neo-Nazi gathering “Day of Honor” in Budapest or received paramilitary training with neo-Nazis in Ukraine.After being monitored by domestic intelligence services for a number of years, it was designated a right-wing extremist organization in 2023.Last month, three men with links to both the Junge Alternative and the AfD were arrested in the eastern state of Saxony, accused of being part of a neo-Nazi terror cell called the “Sächsische Separatisten” – Saxon Separatists, or just “SS” for short.One of the suspects sits on a local council for the AfD and is treasurer for the Junge Alternative in Saxony.The Saxon Separatists had stockpiled weapons, conducted paramilitary trainings, and dreamt of civil war, authorities say. Jörg S., the alleged leader of the group, spoke of a “holocaust” to cleanse eastern Germany of immigrants and claimed there were more “Aryan storm troops” standing ready.A photo from May 2022 shows Björn Höcke, the influential leader of the AfD in Thuringia, who German courts have ruled can be called a fascist, with five of the suspects standing behind a banner of the Saxon branch of the Junge Alternative.When the photo was taken, the Saxon Separatists were already active, according to investigators.Höcke has denied knowing the young men in the photo.But among the Junge Alternative, he has many fans. Members have repeatedly referred to themselves as the “Höcke-Jugend” – a play on the Hitler youth. Höcke himself has been sentenced by courts to financial penalties for using banned Nazi slogans of Hitler’s SA.After the collapse of Germany’s ruling coalition of Social Democrats, Greens, and the pro-business FDP last month, Germany will go to the ballot box on February 23. The AfD is set to make big gains, currently hovering around 18 percent in the polls, compared with just 10.3 percent at the previous election in 2021.Although all other parties in the Bundestag have ruled out governing with the far-right party, it could end up forming the largest parliamentary opposition. If the FDP and Left Party fail to meet the five percent threshold to enter parliament, as current polls predict, there would be more seats for the remaining parties – including the AfD.With calls for an AfD ban gaining traction – 113 members of the Bundestag from various parties have prepared a motion still due to be voted on – as well as a looming decision by Germany’s federal domestic security service on designating the entire party as a right-wing extremist organization, the party leadership is keen to avoid any further scandals that would provide its critics with added ammunition.Under the new proposals, all party members under the age of 36 would automatically become members of a new youth organization, likely called “Junge Patrioten” – the Young Patriots. As a formal part of the party, it would be harder to ban under German law than the Junge Alternative, which is merely registered as an association and enjoys fewer protections under the constitution.Yet despite the proposal, the party’s federal committee has not technically distanced itself from the Junge Alternative. It is also not clear how the Junge Patrioten would be more moderate than their successor organization.
Plans will be put to a vote
These plans will be put to a vote at the AfD’s party conference in mid-January, requiring a two-thirds majority to pass. But even within the party, many are openly challenging the proposal, with the needed votes far from certain.Many in the AfD and Junge Alternative objected to learning of the plans in the media, rather than through party channels.However, even if the proposal is approved, it will do little to transform a party that has become successively more extremist since its founding in 2013, as comparatively more moderate voices were pushed out or resigned.An investigation by the German state broadcaster Bayerischer Rundfunk in March, for example, found that the party employed over 100 right-wing extremists as staff in the Bundestag, among them neo-Nazis, members of Sellner’s Identitarian Movement, and individuals linked to extremist conspiracy and prepper groups.And when a far-right, self-styled prince was planning to storm the Bundestag by Christmas in 2022 and install a new Reich, he counted the judge and former AfD Bundestag member Birgit Malsack-Winkemann as his loyal supporter, who was to become justice minister after the coup, investigators say.Leading AfD figures have also continuously sought to downplay the horrors of the Holocaust, with former parliamentary party leader Alexander Gauland calling Hitler and the Nazis just a “speck of bird shit” in more than 1,000 years of successful German history.Thuringia leader Björn Höcke has said of the Holocaust memorial in Berlin, “Germans are the only people who plant a monument of shame in the capital.”While the chair of the Junge Alternative, Hannes Gnauck – who himself is classified as a right-wing extremist by the Bundeswehr and banned from wearing uniform – supports the plans for a new youth organization, others within their ranks show few signs of quelling the incendiary rhetoric that has caused the AfD political headaches.“Now it’s time to put on our steel helmets and head for the trenches,” wrote Nils Hartwig, deputy spokesperson of the Junge Alternative, in an internal chat seen by Table Media. “They won’t take our JA from us.”Anna Leisten, leader of the Junge Alternative in the east German state of Brandenburg, who calls herself an “iron soldier,” wrote on X: “Disbanding our organization at this time is completely wrong, and we have many other important tasks to master,” linking to an article by Sellner, who suggested remodeling the Junge Alternative as a pro-AfD Super PAC.Leisten also threatened to topple Hannes Gnauck at the Junge Alternative’s conference in February.To formally dissolve the Junge Alternative would require 90 percent of the votes at its upcoming conference, a highly unlikely scenario. Similarly implausible are Sellner’s plans to transform the old youth organization into an AfD Super PAC.A more realistic scenario would involve two rival youth organizations – one officially part of the AfD, another even closer to the extreme, militant right, but still within the party’s orbit.Either way, right-wing extremists will continue to be well represented in both the AfD and its new youth organization. Yet so far, this shows little sign of damaging the party’s election prospects on February 23.
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