German Far Right’s ‘Master Plan’ to Deport Immigrants

Far-right leaders from Germany and Austria discussed plans to forcefully deport immigrants in Europe, including “non-assimilated” citizens, German research institute Correctiv reported on January 10. The private meeting, held last November in Potsdam, Germany, included members of the Alternative für Deutschland (AfD).

Significant figures who attended include:

• Roland Hartwig, personal adviser to AfD leader Alice Weidel
• Ulrich Siegmund, AfD’s parliamentary group leader in Saxony-Anhalt
• Gerrit Huy, AfD Bundestag member
• Tim Krause, AfD deputy leader in the Potsdam district
• Alexander von Bismarck

‘Remigration’: In an introduction speech, organizer Gernot Mörig, a right-wing extremist, explained that the topic that brought the meeting together was “remigration.” This term describes the return of non-European individuals, and perhaps even their Europe-born descendants, to the nation of their racial origin.

Mörig then introduced the meeting’s keynote speaker: Martin Sellner, a far-right political activist and leader of the Identitarian Movement of Austria, who proposed a plan to get rid of immigrants.

The ‘master plan’: Sellner said three groups of migrants need to be forced to leave Germany:

• Asylum seekers
• Foreigners
• Unassimilated citizens

The last of which, Sellner said, are Germany’s biggest “problem.” This would include those who are German citizens and hold a German passport. Sellner proposed sending the deportees to a “model state” in North Africa, where up to 2 million people could live.

There were no direct objections to Sellner’s statement, according to Correctiv.

‘Tailor-made laws’: Silke Schröder, a member of Germany’s Christian Democratic Union, questioned Sellner on how he intended to put the plan into practice since it is impossible to deport a passport-carrying citizen.

Sellner said “high pressure” needed to be placed on people to adapt through “tailor-made laws.” He said remigration is “a decade-long project” that cannot be done quickly.

Gerrit Huy supported the idea, saying that when she joined the AfD she “brought a remigration concept with her.”

In an e-mail to Reuters after the meeting, Sellner wrote:

I made very clear that no distinctions can be made between citizens—that there can be no second-class citizens—and that all remigration measures have to be legal. Unassimilated citizens like Islamists, gangsters and welfare cheats should be pushed to adapt through a policy of standards and assimilation.

At the end of the event, an unofficial fundraiser was held and guests were able to give cash donations.

AfD’s defense: According to the AfD, its party members who attended the meeting attended as “private persons” and the proposed policy was not the party’s stance on immigration. “The AfD won’t change its position on immigration policy because of a single opinion at a non-AfD meeting,” the party told Reuters.

The AfD often uses the term “remigration” and has called for mass deportations. However, the party says that its “consistent and unwavering remigration policy” on revoking passports is “for criminals.”

Despite calls to ban the party for its hard-right stance, the AfD is popular among voters. The party holds a consistent lead in the eastern states of Saxony, Thuringia and Brandenburg. Its growing support shows how German citizens are becoming fed up with their current government and are looking for a stronger leader.

Learn more: Read “Is the Far Right Germany’s Future?”