Free Republic

Whenever Germans head to the polls, one question dominates all debate: How strong will the populist AfD become this time? Last Sunday’s district and mayoral elections in North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW)—Germany’s most populous state—provided a stark answer. While Germany’s state broadcaster spoke of a “sigh of relief” when the ruling CDU emerged victorious with 33.3% of votes, keeping the AfD in third place at 14.5%, this narrative of triumph masks a far more troubling reality for Germany’s political elite. Minister President Henrik Wüst, despite his CDU’s electoral win, admitted he could no longer “sleep peacefully” given the AfD’s result. His anxiety...

Seven candidates for Germany's right-wing AfD party have died in a matter of weeks - with just nine days remaining until a crunch set of local elections. The state of North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany's densely-populated western region which contains cities including Cologne and Dusseldorf, is preparing for polls on September 14. But a string of AfD candidates have died - sparking intense speculation and demands for an investigation. Stefan Homburg, a professor at the University of Hannover, has described the deaths as "statistically almost impossible". His warning, shared to social media platform X, was reposted by AfD leader Alice Weidel and...

The mystery surrounding local elections in Germany’s North Rhine–Westphalia province deepens as two more politicians from the right-wing anti-immigration Alternative für Deutschland (AfD) were reported dead unexpectedly, just days before the vote. As Hungarian Conservative reported earlier this week, the sudden death of Ralph Lange in Blomberg marked the fourth such case in little more than ten days. Now, media reports suggest that two additional reserve candidates have also died. Moreover, German outlet Die Welt wrote that in addition to these six cases, Hans-Joachim Kind, a direct AfD candidate in Kremenholl, a district in southern Remscheid, also died shortly before...

Seven Alternative für Deutschland politicians died within two weeks of each other before local elections, prompting party leaders to hint at foul play. Five direct AfD candidates and two reserve candidates in North Rhine-Westphalia died within 14 days of each other, according to Welt. Wolfgang Seitz’s death at 59 was announced on Aug. 21; the city of Blomberg announced the “unfortunate death” of 66-year-old Ralph Lange on Aug. 27; the city of Bad Lippspringe said 59-year-old Stefan Berendes “died unexpectedly” on Aug. 28; and the city of Schwerte announced that Wolfgang Klinger, 71, died “unexpectedly” on Aug. 19, according to...

Four candidates and two reserves from the right-wing AfD political party in Germany have dropped dead within 13 days of each other — just before elections, according to reports. The Alternative for Deutschland candidates were set to appear on ballots in North Rhine-Westphalia on September 14. Officials said no foul play is currently suspected in any of their deaths, the BBC reported. Ralph Lange, 66, Wolfgang Klinger, 71, Stefan Berendes, 59, and Wolfgang Seitz, 59, all kicked the bucket within two weeks of each other, the European Conservative reported. Two reserve candidates also died over the same period. German officials...

Four candidates and two backup candidates found dead, apparently natural causes. Ralph Lang age 66, Wolfgang Klinger age 72, Wolfgang Slates age 59 heart attack, Stephan Belendez age 59 natural causes, Renee Herferd, young, kidney failure, Patrick Taitzer suicide. Lots of speculation around all of this. Mail-in ballots are already being cast. 12 days 'til the elections. All local elections in one region, AfD members, nobody in CDU membership. Statistically impossible. Transcript linked below video.

Germany has long called itself a country that upholds democracy in a “defensive form”—a concept propagated by an establishment that claims the right to decide who and what voters should be allowed to vote for. This principle is now being wielded most aggressively in the fight against the right-populist Alternative for Germany (AfD). This week, a court of appeals confirmed the exclusion of the AfD candidate from the upcoming mayoral election in Ludwigshafen, a western German industrial city of 122,000 residents. When citizens go to the polls on September 21, they will no longer have the option of voting for...

At a time when Alternative für Deutschland (AfD) has emerged as the most popular political force in the country, overtaking even the traditional parties that have governed for decades, Germany’s state apparatus—together with allied cultural and media organisations—is intensifying efforts to isolate and discredit it. The latest example comes from Berlin, where the Haus der Kulturen der Welt, a taxpayer-funded cultural institution, will in September host the ‘heimaten Festival für die plurale Demokratie’ (‘Festival for Plural Democracy’) an event with a distinctly ideological tone aimed at countering the populist right. Organised under the authority of Minister for Culture Wolfram Weimer...

It’s frightening enough to see full-blown totalitarianism return in Germany, but worse is knowing that it’s happening across the West, including in America. Germany’s Bundestag police commissioner, Uli Grötsch, is trying his best to rid his police force of members of the conservative Alternative for Germany (AfD) party. Grötsch, himself a member of the left-leaning Social Democratic Party (SPD), is tasked with overseeing police misconduct, but instead is using his position specifically to target supporters of the AfD to disqualify them from serving in law enforcement. Speaking to the Rheinische Post, Grötsch flatly stated: “AfD membership and work as a...

Last weekend, Germany's far-right lawmakers vowed to dress smartly, minimise parliamentary cat-calling, and signed up to a short manifesto notably omitting a call for repatriation of some immigrants that helped fuel their February election success. The Alternative for Germany (AfD) is trying a tactical pivot away from the mix of attention-grabbing shock policies and provocative rowdiness that helped it become the second-largest parliamentary party, in a bid to go more mainstream and translate popularity into power, political commentators and a party insider said. Being the largest opposition party has conferred privileges like being able to respond first to the government...

People belonging to extremist organisations, including the far-right AfD party, will be blocked from taking up government positions in the state of Rhineland-Palatinate, the state's interior minister has announced. Members of the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party won't be able to enter public service positions in the state of Rhineland-Palatinate going forward, the state’s interior minister, Michael Ebling (SPD), announced on Thursday in Mainz. The western German state is changing the rules around recruitment for civil servants. Specifically, applicants for government positions will be required to declare that they do not belong to an extremist organisation (and have not...

The following is adapted from a speech delivered on April 25, 2025, at a Hillsdale College National Leadership Seminar in Kansas City, Missouri. Vice President J.D. Vance’s first major assignment from Donald Trump was to join a bunch of European leaders who thought of themselves as our close allies—and to read them the riot act. This happened at the Munich Security Conference on February 14. Instead of discussing armaments and armies, Vance said: “The threat that I worry the most about vis-à-vis Europe is not Russia. It’s not China. It’s the retreat of Europe from some of its most fundamental...

In the United States, if Americans know anything about the Alternative for Germany (AfD) party, it’s that the AfD are a bunch of Nazi-adjacent hooligans who threaten to return Germany to Hitlerism. They know this because that’s what the American media tell them. Very few will bother to go online to find the English-language version of AfD’s party platform. If they did, they would find a wealth of common sense, and proposals that sound like ordinary GOP positions, even before the Trumpening of the Republican Party. It’s the same thing in Europe, of course. In her speech last week at...

Parties opposed to the Alternative for Deutschland (AfD) continue to block it from exercising its rights—all in the name of stopping “fascism.”Germany’s self-proclaimed democracy defenders are at it again: blocking a law-abiding party from exercising its rights—all in the name of protecting democracy. The Alternative for Deutschland (AfD), a pro-free market, anti-EU, anti-mass migration party, placed second in Germany’s recent parliamentary elections, earning nearly 21 percent of the vote to the top vote-getter’s, the Christian Democratic Union’s, 28 percent. The AfD placed well ahead of the once-dominant Social Democratic Party (16 percent) and the Greens (11 percent).By longstanding tradition, the...

Top spy agency withdraws “extremist” label on AfD political party in widening scandal Last week, the German government officially designated the opposition party Alternative for Germany (AfD) as a “confirmed extremist” organization. The announcement came from the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution (BfV), Germany’s domestic intelligence agency, and was endorsed by outgoing Interior Minister Nancy Faeser, who claimed the party posed a fundamental threat to democracy. The designation opened the door to enhanced surveillance, undercover infiltration, and a potential party ban. But Faeser provided no evidence to the public, just a press release about the 1,100-page report.

The entire super secret, 1100+ page report has been leaked to numerous media sources in Germany. I can now report the bombshell findings of months of exhaustive investigative research, snooping, and spying by the finest agents available in the German intelligence community and democracy protection racket. The repercussions of this incendiary, voluminous tome could be characterized as... I'm not kidding. The German police state and ruling junta have completely beclowned themselves. The document produced by the constitutional protection agency (BfV) and used as justification for declaring the populist Alternative for Germany (AfD) party a 'right-wing extremist' group - which enabled...

Just a hair over a week ago (ten days to be exact), an official arm of the German government declared the populist Alternative for Germany (AfD) party - now polling as Germany's most popular party in the country - a 'right-wing extremist' group. Yeah, right - so big deal, no? I mean, they've been calling them that forever. Actually, it was a big deal. It made the epithet an official label, opening the party and every last one of its members to constant, sanctioned (instead of surreptitious) government surveillance. It was also the first necessary step in the process of...

A German spy agency deems the party a threat to the “democratic order,” but voters say otherwise—should they be silenced, too? Alice Weidel may get the last laugh yet. The co-leader of Germany’s most popular party, the Alternative for Germany (AfD), was visibly amused on Tuesday morning when Friedrich Merz, the head of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU), lost the first vote for the Bundestag’s next chancellorship. Never before in German history had a presumptive chancellor been rejected in an initial ballot. But 18 members of Merz’s 328-member governing coalition had bolted and cast their secret votes against him. That...

Germany faces criticism from all directions for its authoritarian actions against the country's largest opposition party ... The German government appears to be seriously preparing for a ban of the Alternative for Germany (AfD) party after the country’s powerful domestic spy agency classified the party as “definitely right-wing extremist.” Now, world leaders are reacting to the classification, with Hungarian Prime Minister saying he backs the party and its co-leader Alice Weidel. After the Office for the Protection of the Constitution (BfV) gave the AfD its new designation, which paves the way for a ban of the entire party, Orbán asked...

Germany's conservative leader Friedrich Merz narrowly lost a vote in the Bundestag to become the next chancellor in an unexpected setback that plunges Europe's largest economy into political uncertainty. The far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD), which finished second in the most recent election, demanded fresh elections after Merz's loss, the first time in German history that a chancellor-designate has failed to win in the first round of voting.