Chapter 63: Cult of Innocence

252      her political idol, Margaret Thatcher “,Margaret Thatcher Is My Role Model’—German Far-Right AfD Leader,” Reuters, October 28, 2017, www.reuters.com/article/world/margaret-thatcher-is-my-role-model-german-far-right-afd-leader-idUSKBN1CX0P8/.

252      an investment banker . . . her doctorate in economics Alexandra Ma, “Germany’s Far-Right Party Surged to Its Best Election Result Since the Nazis—Meet Marine Le Pen–Like Leader Alice Weidel,” Business Insider, September 25, 2017, www.businessinsider.com/germany-afd-alice-weidel-everything-you-need-to-know-2017-9.

252      bonded . . . Eurosceptic objection to the euro Melanie Amann and Sven Becker, “The New Face of the AfD: How Far to the Right Is Alice Weidel?" Spiegel International, May 5, 2017, www.spiegel.de/international/germany/the-new-face-of-afd-how-right-wing-is-alice-weidel-a-1146038.html.

252      called for “Dexit”  Amann and Sven Becker, “The New Face of the AfD,” www.spiegel.de/international/germany/the-new-face-of-afd-how-right-wing-is-alice-weidel-a-1146038.html; and Šejla Ahmatović, “Far-Right Leader Wants Germany to Perform Its Own Brexit,” Politico, January 22, 2024, www.politico.eu/article/far-right-leader-wants-germany-to-vote-on-a-dexit/.

252      provided . . . to debt-constrained and poorer southern European countries  Francesco Giavazzi and Richard Baldwin, “The Eurozone Crisis: A Consensus View of the Causes and a Few Possible Solutions” Vox EU, Centre for Economic Policy Research (CEPR), September 7, 2015, cepr.org/voxeu/columns/eurozone-crisis-consensus-view-causes-and-few-possible-solutions.

252      furious at the bailouts . . . established the AfD in 2013 Annette Weisbach, “Goodbye Southern Europe: Germany’s Alternative?” CNBC, July 26, 2013, www.cnbc.com/2013/07/26/goodbye-southern-europe-germanys-alternative.html; Jenny Hill, “What Next for Germany’s Eurosceptic AfD Party?” BBC News, July 21, 2015, www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-33593500; and Sven Becker et al., “AfD Campaign Finance Trouble: A Right-Wing Populist Slush Fund Exposed,” Spiegel International, November 29, 2019, www.spiegel.de/international/germany/der-spiegel-exposes-murky-afd-slush-fund-a-1298952.html.

252      Weidel joined  Sarah Marsh, “German Far-Right Leader Is Chinese-Speaking Economist with Foreign Partner,” Reuters, December 7, 2024, www.reuters.com/world/europe/german-far-right-afd-leader-is-chinese-speaking-lesbian-economist-2024-12-07/.

252      “The reason why we are flooded by . . .” Alice Weidel, email, February 24, 2013, in David Gebhard and Julia Klaus, “Did You Write the Email, Ms. Weidel?” ZDFheute, February 1, 2023, www.zdf.de/nachrichten/politik/weidel-email-afd-10-jahre-100.html, via Google Translate.

252–253 “puppets of the victorious powers . . .”  Weidel email in Gebhard and Klaus, “Did You Write the Email, Ms. Weidel?” www.zdf.de/nachrichten/politik/weidel-email-afd-10-jahre-100.html.

252–253 “to keep the German people . . .”  Weidel email in Gebhard and Klaus, “Did You Write the Email, Ms. Weidel?” www.zdf.de/nachrichten/politik/weidel-email-afd-10-jahre-100.html.

253      renovated for great replacement theory See Roger Cohen, “Opinion: Return of the German Volk,” New York Times, September 29, 2017, www.nytimes.com/2017/09/29/opinion/german-election-afd.html; and Anthony Faiola and Stephanie Kirchner, “In Germany, the Language of Nazism Is No Longer Buried in the Past,” Washington Post, December 9, 2016, wapo.st/42XYx4v.

253      1.1 million immigrants . . . about 1 percent of Germany’s population  Statistisches Bundesamt (Federal Statistical Office of Germany), “Net Immigration of Foreigners in 2015 at 1.1 Million,” press release no. 105, March 21, 2016, www.destatis.de/DE/Presse/Pressemitteilungen/2016/03/PD16_105_12421.html; and Federal Statistical Office of Germany, “82.2 Million Inhabitants at the End of 2015—Population Increase Due to High Immigration,” press release no. 295, August 26, 2016, www.destatis.de/DE/Presse/Pressemitteilungen/2016/08/PD16_295_12411.html.

253      shifted its focus to immigration In December 2015, Spiegel International reported on this shift: “At a meeting of the party's new leaders in early August [2013], [AfD leader Frauke] Petry announced her idea of an ‘autumn offensive.’ The topics were the euro and immigration, but talk of the euro evaporated quickly. The AfD functionaries were practically falling over themselves to offer the most extreme demands regarding refugees, from border closures to lifting the right to seek asylum—even suggesting that German police could fire on refugees with live ammunition, only in an emergency, of course. The party had long wrestled with the question of whether it wanted to be a middle-class party with a focus on fiscal policy or the New Right’s representative in Germany. Now they’ve decided on the more radical variant.” “Fear, Anger and Hatred: The Rise of Germany’s New Right,” Spiegel International, December 11, 2015, www.spiegel.de/international/germany/refugee-crisis-drives-rise-of-new-right-wing-in-germany-a-1067384.html.

253      must close its borders  Mara Bierbach, “Germany’s Major Parties on Asylum and Migration,” Deutsche Welle (DW), November 24, 2017, www.dw.com/en/afd-cdu-spd-where-do-german-parties-stand-on-refugees-asylum-and-immigration/a-40610988.

253      abolish its current asylum law Kordula Doerfler, “Election Campaign Almost Without Asylum Policy,” Frankfurter Rundschau, updated January 6, 2019, www.fr.de/politik/wahlkampf-fast-ohne-asylpolitik-11020065.html, via Google Translate.

253      “mass rush to Europe and Germany”  Alice Weidel quoted in Doerfler, “Election Campaign Almost Without Asylum Policy,” www.fr.de/politik/wahlkampf-fast-ohne-asylpolitik-11020065.html.

253      “further infiltration” . . . “criminals” Alice Weidel quoted in Marcel Leubecher, “AfD Wants to Scare Germany Shortly Before the Election,” Die Welt, September 18, 2017, www.welt.de/politik/deutschland/article168770484/AfD-will-Deutschland-kurz-vor-der-Wahl-das-Fuerchten-lehren.html, via Google Translate.


253      cast . . . as “illiterate” . . . acknowledged . . . “huge ‘brain drain’” Alice Weidel quoted in the interview in question: Jörg Luyken, “‘Merkel Is Insane’: Meet the Woman Leading the AfD into the Elections,” The Local Germany, May 11, 2017, www.thelocal.de/20170511/merkel-is-insane-meet-the-woman-leading-the-afd-into-the-elections-alice-weidel-elections-2017.

253      gained precious brainpower . . .  A 2017 study by Deloitte and Oxford’s Refugee Studies Centre found that “many” Syrian refugees in Europe “are highly educated (38% have a university education).” Alexander Betts et al., Talent Displaced: The Economic Lives of Syrian Refugees in Europe, Deloitte and the Refugee Studies Centre (RSC) at the University of Oxford (2017), www.refugee-economies.org/assets/downloads/Report_Talent_Displaced.pdf, 5. Germany’s Bundesamt für Migration und Flüchtlinge (Federal Office for Migration and Refugees) “found that almost 35 percent of refugees who had arrived in Germany in 2015 had a job by October 2018,” and that Syrian refugees “managed to find work despite language difficulties and a lack of formal vocational qualifications that are normally vital to securing employment in Germany.” Siobhan Dowling, “Germany Welcomed Refugees: Now It’s Reaping the Economic Benefits,” Al Jazeera, June 20, 2019, www.aljazeera.com/economy/2019/6/20/germany-welcomed-refugees-now-its-reaping-the-economic-benefits. African migrants also play a crucial role in Germany’s economy. In September 2024, “German Chancellor Olaf Scholz and Kenyan President William Ruto signed a labor and migration agreement. It will allow for about 250,000 skilled workers—among them doctors, bus drivers and engineers—from Kenya to come to Germany. The agreement is designed to ease the pressure Germany is facing from its skilled labor shortage due to an aging population. In turn, the young, eager Kenyan workers will be able to find positions that are scarce in their home country . . . Even if the emigration of young people initially leads to a loss of skilled labor [in Kenya and other African countries], those migrants contribute to the development of their home countries in the long term via remittances and knowledge transfer.” Luisa von Richthofen, “African Migration to Europe: A Fact Check,” DW, November 16, 2024, www.dw.com/en/african-migration-to-europe-a-fact-check/a-70795940.

253      originally named . . . One of its founders . . . a former Nazi army officer  “German Rightists Form a Coalition,” New York Times, November 29, 1964, nyti.ms/4gLUdbO, 72; and “Von Thadden had been an artillery officer during the war and had been a member of the NSDAP.” John David Nagle, The National Democratic Party: Right Radicalism in the Federal Republic of Germany (Berkeley, CA: University of California Press, 1970), 16–17. Find the library book at search.worldcat.org/title/95894?oclcNum=95894.

253      announced . . . in the state of Brandenburg  Ann-Katrin Müller, “AfD Founds First Factions with Neo-Nazi Party,” Der Spiegel, June 24, 2024, www.spiegel.de/politik/deutschland/afd-gruendet-in-brandenburg-erste-fraktion-mit-die-heimat-ex-npd-a-f48d35cc-4113-4709-bc8c-081aae4de979, via Google Translate.

253      “AfD Founds First Factions with Neo-Nazi Party”  Müller, “AfD Founds First Factions with Neo-Nazi Party,” www.spiegel.de/politik/deutschland/afd-gruendet-in-brandenburg-erste-fraktion-mit-die-heimat-ex-npd-a-f48d35cc-4113-4709-bc8c-081aae4de979.

253      “Germany’s Oldest Neo-Nazi Party” Ben Knight, “The Decline and Fall of Germany’s ‘Neo-Nazi’ NPD,” DW, September 7, 2016, www.dw.com/en/the-decline-and-fall-of-germanys-neo-nazi-npd/a-19532536.

253      led their party’s candidates . . .  “Germany’s AfD Picks General Election Candidates,” DW, April 23, 2017, www.dw.com/en/germanys-anti-immigrant-afd-party-picks-top-candidates/a-38550655.

254      “The atrocities committed against the German population . . .” Alice Weidel, “After 1945 . . .” Facebook, June 24, 2017, www.facebook.com/aliceweidel/posts/nach-1945-aus-dem-kollektiven-ged%C3%A4chtnis-erfolgreich-gel%C3%B6scht-die-gr%C3%A4ueltaten-an/1588809537796942/, via Google Translate, archived at archive.today, February 10, 2026 capture, archive.ph/Xgqb4.

254      “Because it doesn’t fit in with the cult of guilt”  Weidel, “After 1945 . . .” www.facebook.com/aliceweidel/posts/nach-1945-aus-dem-kollektiven-ged%C3%A4chtnis-erfolgreich-gel%C3%B6scht-die-gr%C3%A4ueltaten-an/1588809537796942/, archived at archive.ph/Xgqb4.

254      despised . . . for accepting German guilt for World War I The Treaty of Versailles, the peace treaty that formally ended World War I, contained a “War Guilt Clause” (Article 231), under which “Germany had to accept complete responsibility for the war. Germany lost 13% of its land . . . This land made up 48% of Germany’s iron production and a large proportion of its coal productions limiting its economic power . . . As financial compensation for the war, the Allies also demanded large amounts of money known as ‘reparations.’” The Nazi Party expressed hostility to the treaty and the democratic leaders of the Weimar Republic who had signed the treaty. On the terms of the Treaty of Versailles, see “The Nazi Rise to Power: The Aftermath of the First World War,” The Holocaust Explained, Wiener Holocaust Library, accessed February 20, 2025, www.theholocaustexplained.org/the-nazi-rise-to-power/the-effects-of-the-first-world-war-on-germany/. On the Nazi Party’s views on the treaty and Weimar leaders, see “The Early Years of the Nazi Party,” The Holocaust Explained, accessed February 20, 2025, www.theholocaustexplained.org/the-nazi-rise-to-power/the-early-years-of-the-nazi-party/; and “1918–1933: Selling Nazism in a Democracy,” State of Deception: The Power of Nazi Propaganda, United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, accessed February 20, 2025, exhibitions.ushmm.org/propaganda/1918-1933.

254      on June 18, 2022 . . . became . . .co-leader . . .  “Germany: AfD Reelects Chrupalla, Weidel as Leadership Duo,” DW, June 18, 2022, www.dw.com/en/germany-far-right-afd-reelects-tino-chrupalla-alice-weidel-as-party-co-leaders/a-62177005; and Judith Mischke, “German Far-Right AfD Party Picks New Leader,” Politico, November 30, 2019, www.politico.eu/article/german-far-right-afd-party-picks-new-leader/.

254      a lesbian woman In an interview with Guy Chazan of the Financial Times weeks after she became the party’s co-lead candidate for the 2017 parliamentary election, Alice Weidel attempted to reconcile her same-sex relationship with her party’s homophobic policy positions: “To be in favour of the traditional family does not mean you reject other lifestyles.” Defending the AfD against charges of homophobia, Weidel said, “The fact that I was elected top candidate shows how tolerant it is.” Weidel quoted in Guy Chazan, “Openly Gay Leader Seeks to Soften Image of Germany’s AfD,” Financial Times, May 12, 2017, www.ft.com/content/800bc828-357e-11e7-99bd-13beb0903fa3.

254      overwhelmingly peopled by homophobic men In early 2025, the media reported the findings of a survey conducted by researchers at the University of Leipzig: “More than 70% of supporters of the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party in 2024 were men,” and “22% of AfD voters have a closed, extremist right-wing world view, compared to only 2.5% of those backing the country’s most popular parties—the conservative CDU/CSU alliance and the centre-left Social Democrats.” According to survey results published by Germany’s Federal Anti-Discrimination Agency, “Derogatory attitudes towards” lesbian, gay, and bisexual people “are most widely represented among people who consider themselves as right-wing and potential voters of the Alternative for Germany (AfD), the Christian Democratic Union of Germany and the Christian Social Union in Bavaria (CDU/CSU) as well as non-voters." See DPA International, “Men Make Up 70% of Supporters of Germany’s Far-Right AfD, study finds,” Yahoo News, February 12, 2025, www.yahoo.com/news/men-70-supporters-germanys-far-110022205.html; and Federal Anti-Discrimination Agency, “Attitudes Towards Lesbian, Gay and Bisexual People in Germany: Results of a Representative Survey,” 2017, www.antidiskriminierungsstelle.de/SharedDocs/forschungsprojekte/EN/Studie_Einstellg_ggueber_LSB_en.html.

254      “gender idiocy” . . . opposed “sexualisation classes . . .” Alice Weidel quoted in Luyken, “‘Merkel Is Insane.’” Alice Weidel’s comments seem to have been in response to the recent addition of gender and sexual diversity to school curriculums in some German states. In November 2016, in response to these changes and the parent protests that followed in some states, AfD released a sex education policy proposal that proclaimed the “classical family model” and heterosexual marriage as “life’s primary purpose,” and proposed that education related to LGBT identities should be minimized or omitted from curricula altogether. For more on the curriculum changes and parent protests, see Abby Young-Powell, “‘It’s Not All Anal Sex’: The German Schools Exploring Love, Equality and LGBT Issues,” The Guardian, November 23, 2016, www.theguardian.com/education/2016/nov/23/its-not-all-anal-sex-the-german-schools-exploring-love-equality-and-lgbt-issues. For more on the AfD’s sex education proposal, see “AfD Publishes Sex-Ed Proposal,” DW, November 15, 2016, www.dw.com/en/afd-publishes-sex-education-proposal-focusing-on-classical-family-values/a-36401503.

254      a death notice “to the German family”  A black-and-white pop-up on the AfD website on June 30, 2017, the day the Bundestag voted to legalize same-sex marriage, announced, “A black day for Germany!” The pop-up had two panels, one on the left and one on the right, each bordered by a black cross. The panel on the left bid “Farewell to freedom of expression.” The panel on the right read, “It is with deep sadness that we say goodbye to the German family, whose constitutional protection was buried today by the majority of the ‘people’s representatives’ in the German Bundestag.” www.afd.de, accessed via Wayback Machine, June 30, 2017 capture, web.archive.org/web/20170630173511/https://www.afd.de/, via Google Translate.

254      opposes same-sex marriage About a month before same-sex marriage was legalized in Germany in 2017, Alice Weidel said, “The legal situation is very clear. For gay couples there is civil partnership which entails equal rights on tax and inheritance. And you can adopt step children." When asked to clarify whether she would oppose a measure to legalize same-sex marriage, Weidel responded, “for me that [civil partnership] is marriage.” Around the same time, Weidel stated, “To be in favour of the traditional family does not mean you reject other lifestyles.” For the first two quotes, see Luyken, “‘Merkel Is Insane,’” www.thelocal.de/20170511/merkel-is-insane-meet-the-woman-leading-the-afd-into-the-elections-alice-weidel-elections-2017. For the last quote, see Chazan, “Openly Gay Leader Seeks to Soften Image of Germany’s AfD,” www.ft.com/content/800bc828-357e-11e7-99bd-13beb0903fa3.

254      most fearful . . . “swamped the country” . . . “homosexuality a crime”  After the Bundestag passed the bill legalizing same-sex marriage, Weidel said, “As if [gay marriage] were Germany’s most pressing problem at the moment . . . The grand coalition is pushing through ‘marriage for everybody’ legislation, while the mass migration [sic] that has swamped the country over the last two years considers homosexuality a crime.” Alice Weidel quoted in Paul Hockenos, “Meet the Lesbian Goldman Sachs Economist Who Just Led Germany’s Far Right to Victory,” Foreign Policy, September 24, 2017, foreignpolicy.com/2017/09/24/meet-the-lesbian-goldman-sachs-economist-who-just-lead-germanys-far-right-to-victory/.

254      Around 6 percent of Germans. . . . The Pew Research Center estimated in 2017 that 6.1% of Germany’s population was Muslim in 2016. The U.S. Department of State reported government estimates of 5.5% in 2017. See Pew Research Center, “Europe’s Growing Muslim Population,” November 29, 2017, www.pewresearch.org/religion/2017/11/29/europes-growing-muslim-population/; and U.S. Department of State, 2017 Report on International Religious Freedom: Germany, accessed February 24, 2025, www.state.gov/reports/2017-report-on-international-religious-freedom/germany/.

254      Research has consistently shown that overwhelming majorities of Muslims In a qualitative study based on interviews with British Muslims, researcher Rusi Jaspal observed, “Muslim interviewees overwhelmingly rejected violence against LGBT people.” Rusi Jaspal, “What It’s Like to Be Gay and a Muslim,” The Conversation, June 28, 2016, theconversation.com/what-its-like-to-be-gay-and-a-muslim-61128. A Gallup survey of Muslims in France, Germany, and Britain published in 2009 found that “Strong majorities of Muslims (at least 82%) across all three nations surveyed in 2008 say attacks in which civilians are targeted could not be morally justified at all.” Gallup, The Gallup Coexist Index 2009, accessed via Wayback Machine, December 16, 2023 capture, web.archive.org/web/20231216160146/https://migrant-integration.ec.europa.eu/sites/default/files/2009-05/docl_8511_392761152.pdf, 38. See also Pew Research Center, “The World’s Muslims: Religion, Politics and Society,” April 30, 2013, www.pewresearch.org/religion/2013/04/30/the-worlds-muslims-religion-politics-society-overview/#extremism-widely-rejected.

254      “strongly reject violence in the name of Islam”  Pew Research Center, “The World’s Muslims,” www.pewresearch.org/religion/2013/04/30/the-worlds-muslims-religion-politics-society-overview/#extremism-widely-rejected.

254      “the only political force that dares . . .”  Alice Weidel quoted in David Berger, “Alice Weidel: “‘The AfD Is the Only Real Protective Force for Gays and Lesbians in Germany,’” Philosophia Perennis, blog, September 20, 2017, philosophia-perennis.com/2017/09/20/alice-weidel-interview/, via Google Translate.

254      Berlin police report in 2024 attributed  Albrecht Lüter, who co-authored the Berlin Police report on these statistics, countered claims that immigrants were largely responsible for these attacks, saying “the distribution of the nationalities of the suspects was in principle a reflection of the population structure in Berlin,” Carl Deconinck, “‘Peak in Hate-Motivated Crimes Directed at LGBTQ People in Berlin,’ Report Finds,” Brussels Signal, December 19, 2024, brusselssignal.eu/2024/12/peak-in-hate-motivated-crimes-directed-at-lgbtq-people-in-berlin-report-finds.

254      in a long-term relationship with . . .  Hockenos, “Meet the Lesbian Goldman Sachs Economist Who Just Led Germany’s Far Right to Victory,” foreignpolicy.com/2017/09/24/meet-the-lesbian-goldman-sachs-economist-who-just-lead-germanys-far-right-to-victory/.

254      the largest ethnic group in Sri Lanka  The most recent available census data from Sri Lanka at the time of this writing is the 2012 census. “According to the 2012 Census, the majority of the population are Sinhalese (74.9 per cent). Minority and indigenous groups include Sri Lankan Tamils (11.2 per cent), Indian Tamils (4.2 per cent), Sri Lankan Moors (9.3 per cent), Malays (0.2 per cent), Burghers (0.2 per cent), Sri Lankan Chetty (5,600), Bharatha (1,700) (2012 Census) and Wanniyala-Aetto (also known as Veddhas) (estimates suggest around 2,000, though they are not included in the official census).” Minority Rights Group, “Sri Lanka,” March 2018, accessed February 24, 2025, minorityrights.org/country/sri-lanka.

254      “There are no racists in the AfD”  Alice Weidel quoted in Luyken, “‘Merkel Is Insane,’” www.thelocal.de/20170511/merkel-is-insane-meet-the-woman-leading-the-afd-into-the-elections-alice-weidel-elections-2017.

254–255 her home in Willerzell . . . has lived for years with . . .Hockenos, “Meet the Lesbian Goldman Sachs Economist Who Just Led Germany’s Far Right to Victory,” foreignpolicy.com/2017/09/24/meet-the-lesbian-goldman-sachs-economist-who-just-lead-germanys-far-right-to-victory/; Peter Conradi, “Alice Weidel: Does the AfD Candidate to Lead Germany Live in Switzerland?” The Times, February 22, 2025, www.thetimes.com/world/europe/article/alice-weidel-afd-germany-election-switzerland-wife-sarah-bossard-wgm7r8vcd; and Boris Busslinger, “Alice Weidel, the Very Swiss AfD Candidate,” Le Temps, February 19, 2025, www.letemps.ch/suisse/alice-weidel-la-candidate-afd-tres-suisse.

255      For election purposes . . . in Überlingen, Germany  Amann and Becker, “The New Face of the AfD,” www.spiegel.de/international/germany/the-new-face-of-afd-how-right-wing-is-alice-weidel-a-1146038.html; and Conradi, “Alice Weidel,” www.thetimes.com/world/europe/article/alice-weidel-afd-germany-election-switzerland-wife-sarah-bossard-wgm7r8vcd

255      a Syrian refugee  “Alice Weidel Let an Asylum Seeker Work Illegally for Her,” Zeit Online, September 13, 2017, www.zeit.de/politik/deutschland/2017-09/afd-alice-weidel-asylbewerberin-schwarzarbeit, via Google Translate; and Richard Connor, “AfD’s Weidel ‘Employed Asylum-Seeker,'” DW, September 13, 2017, www.dw.com/en/far-right-afd-leader-alice-weidel-employed-syrian-refugee-as-cleaner/a-40495560.

255      “Indeed, one of the primary requisites to the AfD’s success . . ."  Hockenos, “Meet the Lesbian Goldman Sachs Economist Who Just Led Germany’s Far Right to Victory,” foreignpolicy.com/2017/09/24/meet-the-lesbian-goldman-sachs-economist-who-just-lead-germanys-far-right-to-victory/.