I’m a Jew from Germany and I fear the AfD’s triumph is only the beginning
Germany’s far-right party finished second in my country’s elections; next time, we may not be so lucky
Demonstrators in Dortmund, Germany, march to protest the rise of the conservative CDU and the far-right AfD parties. Photo by Getty Images
For the first time in postwar Germany, a far-right party has received the second largest number of seats in the German parliament. Devastating? Yes. A surprise? Unfortunately, no. For years when I was growing up, I would hear people in the U.S. talk about Germany’s strong economy. And, when I was at university, I read about Germany’s remarkable transformation from the end of World War II and the fall of East Germany to the political and economic superpower it has become.
However, Germany’s recent slow but steady economic decline and political turmoil have not been a rude awakening for many Germans. Neither have been the growing social tensions among Germany’s citizens and their differing opinions on what Germany’s future will look like. What was the decisive issue that got the AfD (Alternative for Germany) so many votes? It was not the economy, as so many people like to say; it was immigration.
In 2015, the world watched as Europe battled one of the worst refugee crises since the Second World War. I remember the heartbreaking pictures on the news of families stranded across European borders, of bodies washed up on the Mediterranean coast.
While many European countries closed their borders and looked the other way, Germany stepped up and, in 2015 alone, took in more than 1 million refugees, most of whom were fleeing the war in Syria. Whether Germany did this because of the moral compass of Angela Merkel’s government, its sense of historical guilt and obligation, or sheer necessity to avoid an all-out humanitarian disaster is up for debate. Nevertheless, it unfortunately set the stage for the AfD’s resounding success on Sunday.
In retrospect, the tipping point came on New Year’s Eve in 2015, when young male refugees sexually assaulted hundreds of women during New Year’s celebrations in Cologne. There was absolute public outrage, and the already fragile welcoming nature of Germany turned hostile, allowing parties such as the AfD to capitalize on the fears of the German people.
Since then, many more refugees and asylum seekers have come to Germany. Trying to integrate millions of refugees into the German labor force, let alone into German society, became a seemingly impossible task, particularly given Germany’s lack of a proper and viable immigration system. Many were refused asylum. Nevertheless, the German government allowed them to stay in the country in limbo, with plans to send them back to their respective countries if and when things stabilized back home, or to the European country where they originally entered.
In short, this means that today there are hundreds of thousands of predominantly young male refugees stuck in Germany who are legally required to leave the country but cannot do so either for financial reasons or out of fear of returning home.
These migrants are not allowed to work and have little incentive to try to integrate themselves into German society, especially when they know they are not staying. They end up depending on and stressing the social welfare system. Because of this untenable situation, many communities are overwhelmed, and populist parties like the AfD have taken advantage of growing hostility.
For the Jewish population of Germany, AfD’s electoral success is a worrisome reality. They are no stranger to Holocaust revisionism and denial, and their success cannot be separated from the antisemitism that has been steadily growing in the country where I was born and grew up.
Even as the AfD tries to position itself as the savior of the Jewish population in Germany, it is doing so by taking advantage of the situation in Israel and using the resulting antisemitism from the extreme left and from Islamic immigrants in Germany to play into its anti-immigration agenda. In this political paradox, Jews in Germany feel threatened on all sides.
If the soon-to-be-established new government in Germany cannot get control over the current situation, I fear it is possible that, in four years, the AfD will become the most popular party in Germany. And, when the next election comes around, it might well win.
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