The concept that divides the German right: AfD and “remigration”

Demands to close borders, halt immigration and mass deportations of people from Germany are the core ideological tenets of the Alternative for Germany (AfD). The party has been advocating a radical change of course in Germany's migration policy for years. And not without success: in the last federal election, Germans gave it more than 20 percent of the vote, making it the second-largest party in the Bundestag.

Since then, the AfD has been striving for a share in government. However, it lacks the options to exercise power. Over the years, the party has become so radicalized that no other party officially wants to cooperate with it.

The AfD is particularly attracting public attention with its demand for millions of "remigration". Because who exactly the AfD wants to expel from Germany remains controversial even within the party itself.

"Originally, the term remigration was used in the AfD to obscure the fact that the party was actually calling for mass deportations," political scientist Benjamin Hene from Chemnitz University of Technology, who researches populism and right-wing extremist parties, told DW. "The term became known to the wider public at the beginning of 2024, when Korektiv exposed specific thinking in right-wing extremist circles about the deportation of immigrants."

The media outlet Korektiv, which – as it says – advocates for “strengthening democracy”, reported at the time about a meeting of right-wing extremists in Potsdam, where the so-called “Remigration Masterplan” of Austrian right-wing extremist Martin Zellner was discussed. Some AfD officials were also present.

The Korektiv report sparked a huge wave of protests in Germany: millions of people took to the streets to demonstrate against the fantasies of expulsion. The word “remigration” was also declared the “unwanted word of the year” in 2023. Since then, the AfD has fiercely defended itself against accusations that it also wants to expel immigrants who have German citizenship.

However, the party did not distance itself from the concept – quite the opposite. In the Bundestag election campaign, party members ran massive campaigns calling for “remigration.” The AfD's leading candidate for the Bundestag, Alice Weidel, sought rapprochement with the far-right milieu just before the election.

In a speech at the party congress in Rijeka in January 2025, she reiterated the demand for expulsions "on a large scale": "And if it is to be called remigration, then let it be called re-mi-gra-ci-a," she told the assembled members, who applauded her.

Remigration – a right-wing extremist code

The word “remigration” has always been a code word among right-wing extremists for the restoration of a supposedly ethnically homogeneous population in the country. This demand is strongly reminiscent of the murderous era of Nazi terror.

Under dictator Adolf Hitler, Nazi Germany murdered millions of people across Europe: Jews, Roma and Sinti, people with disabilities, homosexuals and many others – because they did not fit the Nazi ideal of German identity. They were terrorized and murdered.

The term "remigration" has therefore always served to diminish what is really meant. In public debates, supporters have argued that it refers exclusively to the expulsion of foreigners who are in Germany illegally.

Activists from circles close to the AfD, such as the Austrian right-wing extremist Martin Zellner, have been pushing the demand for “remigration” for years. Zellner wants to shift “the boundaries of what can be said” in an extreme right-wing direction. He says so himself. It is a cultural struggle from the right.

However, there are a growing number of court rulings in Germany that consider Zellner and his requests for remigration to be clearly unconstitutional. For example, in June 2025, the Federal Administrative Court in Leipzig, in the context of the banning of an association, said of Zellner: His ideas violate the constitutionally guaranteed legal equality of all German citizens.

The ruling's explanation of his remigration ideas states: "They are based on the need to preserve 'ethnocultural identity' and therefore treat German citizens with a migrant background as second-class citizens."

This apparently prompted a prominent AfD member of parliament, Maximilian Krach, to react: “Zellner’s concept is unconstitutional,” Krach declared at an event for his parliamentary group in July 2025.

AfD: Fear of initiating party ban proceedings

Krah is one of the AfD's most prominent politicians. His speeches are loud and provocative, often accompanied by a cigar and champagne. He has managed to win many young voters for the AfD through his campaigns on TikTok. Krah is a lawyer by profession – and now he is also getting involved in the debate on remigration.

Krah warns his party colleagues not to demand the expulsion of immigrants with German citizenship: "Hands off citizens! No matter how much they annoy us!"

His obvious fear: without a clear distancing from Zellner's "remigration concept," the AfD could face the risk of being banned by the Federal Constitutional Court. Many politicians in Germany have been calling for such a move for months.

Political scientist Benjamin Hene says that many leading AfD politicians follow the logic of the Crash: "There is a sense of fear in the AfD about a possible initiative to ban the party. If that were to happen, it would be useful for the party to tone down its rhetoric beforehand."

The AfD sent a signal in this direction at its parliamentary conference in early July: unlike the election campaign, the final document no longer mentions “remigration.” Is the AfD on the path to deradicalization?

Benjamin Hene is skeptical: "We see provincial branches of the party in the eastern parts of the country where there are doubts about the deradicalization strategy, because the successes in the provincial elections so far are attributed precisely to the radical course."

AfD politicians from eastern Germany continue to openly demand the expulsion of immigrants – even if they have German citizenship.

AfD MP: "We don't need these people here!"

One example is the AfD MP from Brandenburg, Lena Kotre. She calls herself the “spokesperson for remigration policy” for her parliamentary group. At a lecture on “remigration” in June 2025 in Berlin, she also called for the expulsion of German citizens who have immigrated.

These are people who, in her opinion, do not fit into her idea of German identity, for example because they do not "assimilate", i.e. do not adapt: "We do not need these people here. These people are a burden. These people have to leave the country."

Maximilian Krach has meanwhile become a kind of persona non grata for right-wing extremist circles close to the AfD: his right-wing extremist publisher, Getz Kubiček, has just terminated his cooperation with him.

And Krah himself often provokes on the far right. How does he feel about the German constitution? In a podcast with Kubiček back in June, he said: "We're going to have to make do with this state. And we're not going to be able to replace it anytime soon."

Predictable? Fundamental rights in the German constitution, or Basic Law, are protected by a guarantee of perpetuity.