“Friendly Faces” of Antisemitism?

The Alternative for Germany (AfD) has evolved from a Eurosceptic protest party founded in 2013 into the central political force of Germany’s far-right. It is now a durable parliamentary actor and the largest opposition party in the Bundestag. This transformation has gone hand in hand with a marked radicalization: the AfD increasingly positions itself against liberal democracy, pluralism, and constitutional norms, while cultivating authoritarian, ethnonationalist, and conspiratorial worldviews. 

A central but often underestimated element of this ideological profile is political antisemitism. While the AfD rarely relies on overt antisemitic language, antisemitic ideas, codes, and narratives permeate its rhetoric, mobilization strategies, and memory politics. Antisemitism functions less as an isolated prejudice than as a connective element within the party’s broader opposition to modern, pluralist democracy. 

The AfD frames politics through a stark friend–enemy logic. Society is divided into a supposedly homogeneous and virtuous “people” versus corrupt domestic elites and hostile external forces. This worldview closely mirrors patterns of modern antisemitism, which historically constructed Jews as hidden enemies linking internal “traitors” with external threats. 

Rather than naming Jews explicitly, the AfD usually relies on coded language. References to “globalists,” “cosmopolitan elites,” or shadowy financial powers draw on long-standing antisemitic stereotypes. The conspiracy myth of a planned “Great Replacement” of the native population—popularized by leading AfD figures—echoes classic fantasies of a Jewish world conspiracy without explicitly mentioning Jews. 

George Soros serves as a recurring personification of these ideas. AfD representatives repeatedly portray him as a sinister puppet master orchestrating migration, climate policy, and social change. Such narratives revive the core motifs of antisemitic conspiracy theories while maintaining plausible deniability. 

Since 2017, the AfD’s ideology has been shaped by ethnonationalism. Citizenship and belonging are defined in ethnic terms, and cultural homogeneity is framed as a prerequisite for national survival. Central to this agenda is the demand for “remigration”—the mass deportation of migrants and even citizens deemed insufficiently German. 

This rhetoric is accompanied by the normalization of Nazi language and symbols. Leading party figures, especially from the formerly internal faction Der Flügel, have repeatedly used banned Nazi slogans, glorified the Wehrmacht, or trivialized National Socialist crimes. Courts have confirmed that such references are not accidental but intentional. 

The idea of preventing a supposed “death of the people” (Volkstod) through decisive, even cruel action points toward a national-revolutionary imagination. While Jews are often not mentioned directly, this anti-modern, anti-democratic vision is historically inseparable from antisemitic constructions of enemies blamed for modernity, liberalism, and social pluralism. 

A key pillar of AfD ideology is its attack on Germany’s postwar culture of remembrance. The party rejects what it calls a “cult of guilt” and demands a fundamental shift in memory politics. Nazi crimes are relativized, while German suffering and supposed heroism are foregrounded. 

This approach marginalizes Jewish perspectives on history and promotes what scholars describe as “secondary antisemitism”: hostility toward Jews arising from resentment about Holocaust remembrance and perceived moral demands. Jews appear implicitly as those who prevent a positive national self-image by insisting on confronting German crimes. 

Statements by prominent AfD leaders describing the Holocaust Memorial as a “monument of shame” or Nazi rule as a mere “bird’s dropping” in German history exemplify this tendency. Such rhetoric normalizes historical relativism and contributes to an atmosphere in which antisemitic resentment can flourish. 

Beyond abstract narratives, the AfD has repeatedly targeted prominent Jewish individuals, especially liberal critics of the party. Social media campaigns and parliamentary interventions have singled out Jewish journalists, activists, and intellectuals using ridicule, conspiracy narratives, and visual stereotypes. 

These attacks often combine antisemitic imagery with antifeminist and anti-communist tropes. They mobilize hostility among supporters and contribute to a climate in which threats and violence against Jews become more likely, even when the party officially distances itself from explicit antisemitism. 

When confronted with accusations of antisemitism, the AfD typically responds in two ways. First, it portrays itself as the victim of malicious misrepresentation. Second, it claims to be a defender of Jewish life because of its occasional support for Israel and its hostility toward Muslim migrants. 

This supposed solidarity with Israel is highly selective and instrumental. Israel is praised only insofar as it appears to confirm the AfD’s own ethnonationalist and anti-migration agenda. At the same time, antisemitic narratives about Israel exploiting Germany financially or acting as part of a global conspiracy circulate openly within the party. 

Recent statements and reactions to Middle East violence show growing ambivalence and hostility toward Israel, undermining claims that the AfD represents a genuinely pro-Jewish or anti-antisemitic force.

Empirical studies consistently show that antisemitic attitudes are significantly more widespread among AfD voters than among supporters of any other party in Germany. Majorities agree with classic antisemitic stereotypes, relativize National Socialism, and express resentment toward Holocaust remembrance. 

These findings suggest that antisemitism is not merely a marginal phenomenon within the AfD but resonates strongly with its electorate. Party rhetoric both reflects and reinforces these attitudes. 

Antisemitism in the AfD is rarely explicit, but it is structurally embedded in the party’s authoritarian, ethnonationalist, and conspiratorial worldview. It manifests in coded language, historical revisionism, attacks on Jewish individuals, and narratives about global elites and national decline. 

Far from being an isolated problem, political antisemitism functions as a key mobilizing resource within the AfD’s broader challenge to liberal democracy. Understanding this dynamic is essential for assessing the risks the party poses to democratic culture, minority rights, and social cohesion in Germany.

Read the full analysis here.