German politics
Claims about German parties, elections and public debate.
22 checked claim occurrences · 2 sources · 3 attributed speakers
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One plan assumed a surprise attack on the Soviet forces stationed in Germany to impose the will of the United States and the British Empire upon Russia.
Multiple sources confirm exactly this language: the plan called for a surprise attack on Soviet forces in Germany to 'impose the will of the United States and British Empire upon Russia.'
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Imposing the Treaty of Versailles on Germany ended up in disaster — a fairly mainstream historical view
While it is widely accepted that the Treaty of Versailles contributed to conditions leading to WWII, some historians (e.g., Margaret MacMillan) argue the 'Versailles caused Hitler' thesis is oversimplified or erroneous, meaning the claim that this is uncontroversially mainstream overstates the consensus.
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A poll came out last month from ZDF. Very respected poll found 72% of Germans say the AFD is a danger to democracy.
A ZDF Politbarometer poll published in January 2024 found that 72% of respondents viewed the AfD as a threat to democracy.
Video Is the AfD a threat to Germany? Mehdi Hasan & Maximilian Krah | Head to Head
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In the German intelligence agency's report on the AfD, you were cited hundreds of times by name. They said, 'Your view of humanity is incompatible with the German Constitution.'
The Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution (BfV) frequently cited Maximilian Krah's statements in its legal assessment of the AfD, concluding that his ethnocultural concept of humanity violates the human dignity protections of the German Basic Law.
Video Is the AfD a threat to Germany? Mehdi Hasan & Maximilian Krah | Head to Head
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Germany has the second largest number of refugees worldwide after Colombia.
According to UNHCR data from late 2023 and mid-2024, Iran and Turkey host the largest populations of refugees and other people in need of international protection globally, followed by Colombia and Germany.
Video Is the AfD a threat to Germany? Mehdi Hasan & Maximilian Krah | Head to Head
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Maximilian Krah said that the equality of citizens based solely on a piece of paper is the founding myth of the modern state.
In his 2023 manifesto 'Politik von rechts' (Politics from the Right), Krah wrote that the equality of all citizens based solely on the paper they hold is the founding myth of the modern, liberal state.
Video Is the AfD a threat to Germany? Mehdi Hasan & Maximilian Krah | Head to Head
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Maximilian Krah said in 2023 that 'das Volk' (the people) is a community of similars and a natural, biologically verifiable reality.
In his 2023 book, Krah defined 'das Volk' as a 'natural, biologically verifiable reality' rather than a mere social contract, reflecting ethnopluralist ideology.
Video Is the AfD a threat to Germany? Mehdi Hasan & Maximilian Krah | Head to Head
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The manifesto for the state of Saxony-Anhalt calls Islam a culturally alien religion and says Islam does not belong to Germany.
The AfD's national manifesto explicitly declares that 'Islam does not belong to Germany,' and its regional election programs, including that of Saxony-Anhalt, describe Islam as a 'culturally alien religion' ('kulturfremde Religion').
Video Is the AfD a threat to Germany? Mehdi Hasan & Maximilian Krah | Head to Head
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The AfD has an internal organization called 'Migrants within the AfD'.
AfD party members with immigrant backgrounds officially founded a group called 'Netzwerk Migranten in der AfD' (Network of Migrants in the AfD) to represent their interests within the party.
Video Is the AfD a threat to Germany? Mehdi Hasan & Maximilian Krah | Head to Head
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The AfD may secure their first state premiership in Saxony Anhalt in September.
There was no state election in Saxony-Anhalt in September 2024; the state elections held that month were in Saxony, Thuringia, and Brandenburg. The speaker confused Saxony-Anhalt with Saxony.
Video Is the AfD a threat to Germany? Mehdi Hasan & Maximilian Krah | Head to Head
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Maximilian Krah wrote that Israelis are great because they are ethnonationalists, whereas current Jews in Germany have nothing to contribute and are mostly left-wing/communist.
In his 2023 book 'Politik von rechts', Krah praised Israel as an admirable ethnonationalist project, while asserting that contemporary German Jews have 'nothing of their own to add' to German culture and are almost exclusively left-wing.
Video Is the AfD a threat to Germany? Mehdi Hasan & Maximilian Krah | Head to Head
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At that time China was the biggest trade partner of Germany.
China was Germany's largest single trading partner for eight consecutive years up to 2023.
Video Is the AfD a threat to Germany? Mehdi Hasan & Maximilian Krah | Head to Head
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If you look at trade of the UK, of Germany, of France, of Italy, with countries in Central Asia, you will see in 2022 they skyrocket.
Following the 2022 invasion of Ukraine and subsequent Western sanctions, exports from European nations like Germany, France, Italy, and the UK to Central Asian countries (such as Kyrgyzstan and Kazakhstan) surged dramatically, acting as a workaround to deliver goods to Russia.
Video Is the AfD a threat to Germany? Mehdi Hasan & Maximilian Krah | Head to Head
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The AFD has never been in government in Germany.
Since its founding in 2013, the right-wing populist Alternative for Germany (AfD) party has never been part of a federal or state-level coalition government in Germany, as other major political parties have maintained a 'firewall' (Brandmauer) refusing to govern with them.
Video Is the AfD a threat to Germany? Mehdi Hasan & Maximilian Krah | Head to Head
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A study by the Konrad Adenauer Foundation found that one in five AfD supporters tend to agree that rich Jews rule the world, and 6% of AfD supporters show elevated agreement with antisemitic statements compared to 2% of the general population.
A 2023 study by the Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung (KAS) on antisemitism in Germany found that 19% (nearly one in five) of AfD voters agreed with the statement 'rich Jews rule the world', and 6% of AfD supporters exhibited a manifest antisemitic worldview compared to 2% of the general public.
Video Is the AfD a threat to Germany? Mehdi Hasan & Maximilian Krah | Head to Head
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There is not one attack against the Jewish community in Germany from far-right Germans.
There have been numerous far-right antisemitic attacks in Germany, most notably the 2019 Halle synagogue shooting, which was a far-right terrorist attack targeting the Jewish community during Yom Kippur.
Video Is the AfD a threat to Germany? Mehdi Hasan & Maximilian Krah | Head to Head
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There are around 12,000 Syrian doctors in Germany (including 6,000 naturalized and 6,000 non-naturalized), making them the largest group of foreign doctors.
Official German Medical Association (BÄK) data from late 2023 shows there are 6,120 Syrian doctors without German citizenship in Germany, making them the largest national group of foreign doctors. Including naturalized doctors of Syrian origin, the total is estimated at approximately 12,000.
Video Is the AfD a threat to Germany? Mehdi Hasan & Maximilian Krah | Head to Head
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70% of refugees in Germany work in high-skill professions.
Data from Germany's Institute for Employment Research (IAB) shows that while refugee employment rates have risen (reaching 64% after 7-8 years), the majority of employed refugees work in helper (low-skilled) or skilled support roles, with only a small fraction (around 5% to 6%) working in highly skilled or academic professions.
Video Is the AfD a threat to Germany? Mehdi Hasan & Maximilian Krah | Head to Head
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50% of refugees in Germany are not working and are on welfare.
According to official figures from the Federal Employment Agency and the IAB, the employment rate for refugees who arrived since 2013 was around 54% to 64% depending on their length of stay, meaning roughly 40% to 50% remain out of the workforce, with many relying on citizen's benefit (Bürgergeld) or welfare support.
Video Is the AfD a threat to Germany? Mehdi Hasan & Maximilian Krah | Head to Head
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51% of citizenship money (Bürgergeld) receivers in Germany are non-German passport holders.
According to official statistics from the German Federal Employment Agency (Bundesagentur für Arbeit), as of late 2023 / early 2024, approximately 47% to 51% of Bürgergeld (citizen's income) recipients did not hold German citizenship, with some monthly cohorts or subsets of employable beneficiaries specifically crossing the 51% threshold.
Video Is the AfD a threat to Germany? Mehdi Hasan & Maximilian Krah | Head to Head
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Germany does not have a scheme where you can get citizenship by buying property or investing in a business.
Germany does not offer a 'golden passport' or direct citizenship-by-investment scheme. While there are pathways to residency through business investment (under Section 21 of the Residence Act), this does not grant automatic citizenship, which is subject to standard naturalization requirements.
Video Is the AfD a threat to Germany? Mehdi Hasan & Maximilian Krah | Head to Head
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There is a trial going on of three former AfD members (including one former city councilor and two party members) for plotting to coup the government.
Three former members of the Alternative for Germany (AfD) party—including Birgit Malsack-Winkemann (a former AfD Bundestag member) and Christian Wendler (a former AfD city councilor in Olbernhau)—went on trial in 2024 as part of the suspected Reichsbürger coup plot led by Heinrich XIII Prince Reuss.
Video Is the AfD a threat to Germany? Mehdi Hasan & Maximilian Krah | Head to Head
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