Young voters are strengthening the rise of the AfD in Germany

Young voters are strengthening the rise of the AfD in Germany

On the wet evening in Suhl, in Thuringia, a former state of the GDR, numerous young faces waited along with hundreds of people to hear about an extraordinary idol - Björn Höcke, one of the most controversial figures in the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party.

The controversies surrounding Björn Höcke

Höcke, a former history teacher, was condemned for using Nazi terms in a speech and is facing massive criticism even within the AfD, which sees him as an outsider while mainstream parties in Germany reject him.

Popularity among young people

However, these negative aspects seemed to have little impact on the audience in the inconspicuous hall of an abandoned shopping center in Suhl. When asked about his popularity among young people and whether he was a good role model, he answered clearly:

"If they see... a bit of a pop star in me, then that's fine, because the youth needs idols like that too," he told CNN last Tuesday.

Rise of the AfD

Höcke has the ability to attract a large crowd and is admired in these parts of Thuringia. The AfD's victory in last year's state elections made it the first party to win any type of election since the Nazi era. The trend of young voters choosing the AfD is increasing across Germany.

Polls for Sunday's upcoming elections and the AfD's successes in last year's regional elections show the party has evolved from a regional to a national force.

A worrying trend

Election results from last year's European elections, which showed an 18% increase in 16- to 34-year-olds voting for the AfD, could be an indicator that the national increase among the same group could account for a significant part of the AfD's potential rise to second place.

The views of the AfD youth

The AfD is classified as extremist by the German Office for the Protection of the Constitution, and Höcke is its leader. Many of the young people we spoke to didn't even try to hide their admiration for Höcke. Some said they had come specifically to listen to him. Dante Reidel, a 26-year-old student standing next to a stall selling the German right-wing extremist magazine Compact, described Höcke as his idol:

"It's also about the personalities... who embody certain values. And what I really appreciate about Höcke is that he is honest... and speaks clearly."

Ideological views

He describes some of his ideologies and emphasizes what is important to him, particularly the veneration of national, expansionist and militaristic periods of history. "Prussian virtues, things like hard work and discipline. These are things that are important, including the cardinal virtues from antiquity," Reidel said.

At the gathering, CNN also met 23-year-old Eric Engelhardt, who heads the AfD's youth wing in Thuringia and appears to be another Höcke supporter - he spent his evening photographing Höcke.

The political statements of young people

The next day, CNN spent time with Engelhardt in his picturesque hometown of Sonneberg as he distributed election posters. The Young Alternatives are also classified as extremists at the national level. That's part of the reason they recently decided to disband and reorganize more formally under central AfD control. Engelhardt describes the classification as a conspiracy against them and emphasizes that they have no extremists in their ranks.

Migration as a central issue

When asked why so many young people vote for the AfD, he repeats the now common AfD motif: "Migration is the mother of all crises. We have a lot of illegal migrants in this country... who don't behave. And I think that many of the problems we have today... are also caused by migration, by uncontrolled mass immigration." Engelhardt says.

That same week, a car driven by an Afghan migrant breached a peaceful protest in central Munich, resulting in the deaths of a 36-year-old woman and a 2-year-old child.

The call for “remigration”

The wave of attacks has brought the issue of migration to the forefront. The AfD's reaction was to advocate “remigration”: the mass return of migrants. This term has Nazi origins. Engelhardt called it a "scientific term" and says that deporting people is not what they are advocating for, but rather they want a more restrictive migration policy in general.

However, AfD leader Alice Weidel told CNN in January that she would immediately “deport all illegals” if she won the election.

The future in the focus of youth

Regardless of the classifications and connections to extremist individuals, Engelhardt remains convinced that the future of Germany lies in the hands of the youth. He said: “Something has changed” among young voters in Germany. “The fact that many young people want to vote for the AfD means that we also have a future.”