Antisemitism, Holocaust Denial, and Germany’s Far Right: How the AfD Tiptoes around Nazism
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Abstract
This article examines antisemitism and Holocaust denial in contemporary Far-Right German politics with a focus on the party Alternative for Germany (Alternative für Deutschland, AfD). The article argues that the AfD has attempted to ‘tiptoe around Nazism’—a phrase coined by the author, which describes how the party has strategically and haphazardly reacted to scandals as they arise in order to avoid being associated with Nazism and losing moderate voters. The first section investigates how the AfD has reacted to various internal scandals that have damaged its reputation. This analysis encompasses the party’s fraught relationship to the Islamophobic, anti-refugee organization PEGIDA (Patriotic Europeans against the Islamicization of the Occident) as well as the ‘Höcke Affair,’ in which prominent AfD leader Björn Höcke denigrated the Berlin Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe as a ‘monument of shame.’ The second section examines the AfD’s proactive attempts to tiptoe around Nazism by portraying itself as philosemitic and pro-Israel and courting Jewish voters as part of its controversial subgroup Jews in the AfD (Juden in der AfD, JAfD). Here it explains how JAfD members, particularly Jews who immigrated to Germany from the former Soviet Union, have rationalized their paradoxical support for this outwardly antisemitic and denialist party. The conclusion situates the AfD in the broader transatlantic context of Far-Right extremism, highlighting trends that may signal—yet, more likely, will fail to bring about—the party’s demise.
Topics
Antisemitism: Far right Holocaust Denial Political Parties Politics Main Topic: Antisemitism Islamophobia
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Geographic Coverage
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Volume/Issue
36(2-3)
Page Number / Article Number
164-185
DOI
Link
Link to article (paywalled), Antisemitism, Holocaust Denial, and Germany’s Far Right: How the AfD Tiptoes around Nazism
Bibliographic Information
Antisemitism, Holocaust Denial, and Germany’s Far Right: How the AfD Tiptoes around Nazism. 2022: 164-185. https://archive.jpr.org.uk/10.1080/25785648.2022.2069337
