Introduction
This January, the hyper-conservative Alternative für Deutschland (AfD) party in Germany released its latest–and most controversial–manifesto: a 94 page document detailing their vision for the country’s future. The piece addresses everything from university funding, to genetic engineering, to the efficacy of the Euro. But part of what makes it such a catalyst for discourse is its seventh chapter. This section is titled, “Culture, Language and Identity,” and discusses regulations for media, language, and, most strangely, religious and Germanic cultural loyalty.
Chapter Seven, to most, seems out of place in a 2025 manifesto. After all, it might fit better among the Nazi’s extreme nationalist and antisemetic rhetoric of the 1930s and 1940s. It does not help that the AfD has already faced scrutiny on the global stage for employing similar language to that of the Nazi party in other official communications. For instance, the leader of the AfD in 2021, Björn Höcke, was tried and fined for proudly shouting Nazi slogan, “Everything for Germany!” in one of his speeches.
Today, we cringe to compare anything to the horrors of Nazism, and, indeed, Germany’s current political and economic state is not a perfect mirror for what it was one hundred years ago. Yet, the social and political echoes between the Nazi Party in the 1930s and today’s far-right AfD are too stark to ignore, both in and outside of their manifesto. To do so would risk turning every historian’s nightmare into reality: allowing Germany’s legacy of racial hatred and nationalist extremism to resurface.
Social
Perhaps the most concerning thing one can see in any political party is a strong sense of hatred for a group of people based on ethnicity, gender, religion, etc. It is–or should be–the first and most obvious warning sign that such a party poses a threat to the lives and livelihoods of those they target.
The Nazi party made their social stance rather clear: anything non-traditional or non-German was an enemy of the state and had to be eliminated.
Similarly, in Germany today there is a strong push to return to the traditional. Recent changes in what marriage, gender, race dynamics, etc. look like have given pause to conservatives everywhere trying to contend with this new world outlook. Still, the ability for LGBTQ+ couples to marry, for women to enjoy full equality to men, or for religious minorities to practice have been accepted in most places globally. Yet, the AfD places itself rather firmly against these things, just like the Nazi party once did.
For the sake of exercise, let us compare two statements, one from the AfD’s manifesto and another from a 1923 interview with Adolf Hitler:
“[Religion X] does not belong to Germany.”
“The [Y Religious Group] are not German. They are an alien people in our midst.”
Without the context filled in of which religious group is being targeted, the statements are identical in sentiment. In context, the first is read: “Islam does not belong to Germany” and comes from the AfD. The second reads: “The Jews are not German. They are an alien people in our midst” and is from Hitler’s interview.
If that were not bad enough, the AfD’s manifesto boasts many more sentiments reminiscent of those held by Nazis regarding Jews–this time targeting Muslims. For instance, chapter seven of the AfD’s manifesto, which was discussed briefly in the introduction, boasts a disturbing number of subsections dedicated to the erasure of Islam in Germany under the guise of “Culture, Language, and Identity” regulations. To demonstrate, a selection of the chapter’s subsections includes: “Islam and its Tense Relationship with our Value System”, “Tolerate Criticism of Islam,” “No Full-Body Veiling in Public Spaces,” and, “No Public Body Status for Islamic Organizations.” Chapter 8, which focuses on education, goes on to include, “Close Qur’an Schools and Integrate Islamic Studies in Ethics Education” and “No Special Rights for Muslim Pupils.” There is also a ban suggested on slaughtering animals in such a way that makes them Halal or Kosher in the manifesto’s thirteenth chapter, which would prevent Jews and Muslims from being able to eat German meat.
Beyond the glaring similarities between Nazi and AfD sentiment as it relates to religious minorities, views on other conservative issues are also similar. For instance, the role of women and men in the military. Let us repeat the exercise from before with one statement coming from the AfD and one from a Nazi official:
“We consider military service to be the duty of all young men, irrespective their social background…Women shall have the opportunity to perform military service on a voluntary basis.”
“It has always been our chief article of fact that woman’s place is in the home – but since the whole of Germany is our home we must serve her wherever we can best do so.”
Admittedly, the language of the time makes it a bit easier to tell here that the first quote comes from the AfD’s manifesto while the second comes from Gertrud Scholtz-Klink–a female leader in the Nazi party. But, this exercise is a disturbing one. Through it, concerning parallels between the hyper-conservative, nationalist movements of the Nazi party become intimately linked to the same hyper-conservative, nationalist movements of the AfD.
Of course, one must be careful when generalizing these similarities too much. After all, much of the racial cleansing, deeply sexist, explicitly hostile language present in Nazi rhetoric would cause global outrage if it were to be used by the AfD. But, any level of similarity–especially as it relates to the deeply congruent language used about Muslims today that was used about Jews in the 1930s–should raise alarms for the international community.
Political
Now, it is true that, when contained, these dangerous ideologies seem ridiculous and relatively unthreatening. Indeed, in its 2013 debut general election, the AfD gained a measly 2% of votes. But, it should be noted that, in 1924, the Nazi party, too, received only 3% of votes. By 1932, they had raised that number to a parliamentary majority of 37.3%. Similarly, as of October 2025, the AfD holds a tie for the majority of votes in Germany at an alarming 26%.
Parties like these are extremely problematic because they do not remain unpopular. Instead, they target underprivileged, desperate groups, make supporters of them, and, before one remembers how destructive the party’s social policies are to minorities and global progress, the party is ruling the country.
In the 1920’s and 1930’s, Hitler’s method of gaining support was simple: take advantage of a desperate country, a party in power that was failing to satisfy its people, and, frankly, charm to convince the nation that the Nazi party was their only salvation. He did this primarily through the media, making use of the radio before and during his control of Germany while also visiting various parts of the nation in person to deliver passionate speeches. The people, who were promised that he was their savior and who heard from him frequently, began to identify with this new leader who was meeting them where they were and promising to solve their problems. Thus, the Nazi party rose.
Today, one does not have to look far to find this similar sort of populist rhetoric used to gain power. Indeed, the AfD has taken the same path to their prominence. With them, instead of using radio broadcasts and speeches, the fight for political relevancy has taken mostly to TikTok and the internet. Because these platforms are so rapidly changing and allow for targeted marketing, it is much easier for the AfD to curate their messages to address issues that will gain them the most support/attention in the moment and to curate their messaging to vulnerable groups likely to be receptive. This being done, it has followed that the AfD is very popular on social media, boasting 370,000 followers on Instagram and 676,400 on TikTok–impressive when compared to the measly 210,000 followers on Instagram and 95,900 on TikTok that the AfD’s main competitor, the Christian Democratic Union of Germany (CDU), holds.
These platforms in particular being among the AfD’s strongest is no mistake. Instead, it is a way of targeting the youth, who are especially vulnerable to the struggles with housing, employment, and education in Germany at the moment. TikTok’s largest age demographic is between the ages of 25-34–a group who would relate perfectly to the AfD’s push for supporting new families and reallocating immigrant benefits to young Germans. Meanwhile, Instagram’s largest age bucket ranges from 18-24, including those who might relate to the AfD’s desire to lower housing costs or to expand participation in democracy to all–no years of experience causing one’s voice to be more meaningful than another’s. All that considered, it is easy for voters to lose the fine print of religious discrimination and harsh traditionalism today with the AfD just like it was easy to do the same in the 1930s with the Nazis.
Of course, the AfD and CDU, among other smaller political parties in Germany, also make use of national television, print media, and radio to gain supporters. However, these forms of marketing mostly target older populations who have already had years to become loyal to their political parties and are unlikely to change their long-held beliefs. Thus, especially with these mediums becoming obsolete and failing to appeal to the “common man” the same way social media does under a populist marketing strategy, they are not quite as prevalent or dangerous as the AfD’s deeply effective use of platforms like Instagram and TikTok.
It is precisely for this tactful development of popular support paired with extreme traditionalism and religious hatred that deep care must be taken to ensure the AfD does not abuse the influence it has gained.
Conclusion
When World War Two ended, the international community promised it would not forget the millions who were killed, displaced, and traumatized by the Nazi regime. In many ways, it has lived up to that. Today, monuments, museums, and people everywhere dedicate themselves to ensuring everyone can learn from the mistakes of our past such that we do not repeat them. But, fewer are bringing to light parties which mirror the rhetoric and political strategy of that which once devastated Europe and the world. The German AfD is easy to select because it shares the same country of origin, a clear hatred for religious minorities and non-traditionality, and a populist strategy for gaining popularity as the Nazi party. But, a wave of hyper-conservativism is crashing over the world, from the Rassemblement National party in France to the Bharatiya Janata Party in India. Ignoring this and allowing it to continue unchecked is a grave mistake.
In the words of President Eisenhower: our purpose is “to guard vigilantly against the domination ever again of any part of the world by a single, unbridled aggressive power.” Only by identifying and holding these powers–the AfD and otherwise–accountable can we hope to remain free from the chains of injustice.
Featured/Headline Image Caption and Citation: AfD, Image sourced from Wikimedia Commons | CC License, no changes made