The President of the Central Council of Jews in Germany, Josef Schuster, expressed concerns about the growing support for the AfD and its implications for Jewish life in Germany.
Reflecting on the beginning of 2024, when hundreds of thousands demonstrated against a meeting of right-wing and extremist circles in Potsdam, Schuster remarked that while the protests initially led to a dip in the AfD’s poll ratings, their impact seems to have faded. “I am actually a little shocked that the AfD’s election polls no longer show anything in this regard,” he said, adding, “Pessimistically, one would have to think that people want to vote for the AfD precisely because of its radical positions.”
Schuster warned that the AfD’s participation in government would pose a serious threat to Jewish life in Germany. “The party has demonstrable connections to right-wing extremist networks—it is their political arm,” he stated, emphasizing the AfD’s alignment with ethnic ideologies and its openness to antisemitic sentiments. A party that differentiates people based on origin or appearance, he cautioned, “is always a danger for Jewish people too.”
Schuster also criticised the AfD’s desire for a “fundamentally different culture of remembrance,” tying it to their broader extremist agenda. He attributed the party’s success partly to its presence on social networks and its focus on issues that resonate with voters, urging democratic parties to provide solutions within a democratic framework to counter such narratives.
Expressing further alarm, Schuster pointed to developments in Austria, where he sees democratic parties struggling to form majorities against the FPÖ. “The developments in Austria honestly shock me,” he said, underscoring his concern about democratic parties potentially failing to create viable alternatives to right-wing populism.
