A recent report by the American Jewish Committee (AJC) asserts that antisemitic ideas and narratives are deeply embedded within Germany’s Alternative for Germany (AfD) party, despite the party’s denials of harboring such sentiments. The analysis, authored by Professor Lars Rensmann of the University of Passau, was released on Tuesday and examines political antisemitism as a core element underlying the AfD’s broader opposition to liberal democracy.

Rensmann, a specialist in political ideologies and antisemitism, describes the AfD's evolution from a Eurosceptic protest party founded in 2013 into Germany’s main far-right political force and the largest opposition faction in the Bundestag. This transformation, he notes, has coincided with a radicalization characterized by authoritarianism, ethno-nationalism, and conspiratorial worldviews opposing pluralist democracy.

According to the report, the AfD frames politics through a rigid friend-enemy dichotomy, portraying society as divided between a virtuous native population and corrupt elites or foreign influences. Rensmann contends this approach mirrors historic antisemitic patterns, which depicted Jews as hidden enemies forging alliances between internal traitors and external threats. The party eschews explicit antisemitic language but relies on coded references to “globalists,” “cosmopolitan elites,” and “shadowy financial powers,” which draw on longstanding antisemitic stereotypes.

The report also highlights the AfD’s promotion of the conspiracy theory known as the “Great Replacement,” which suggests the native population is being systematically supplanted—a motif historically tied to antisemitic worldviews. Investor George Soros frequently figures in these narratives, portrayed by AfD representatives as a manipulative force behind migration, climate change policies, and social transformations. Rensmann argues that such portrayals reflect classic antisemitic conspiracy theories while allowing the party plausible deniability.

Ethno-nationalist ideology and calls for remigration underpin the AfD’s broader worldview, the report states, alongside efforts to rehabilitate Nazi-era rhetoric. Examples include the use of slogans such as the SA’s “Everything for Germany,” which party officials defend as benign, accusing state critics of acting in bad faith. Rensmann emphasizes that reviving this language is closely tied to antisemitism, as it evokes the national-revolutionary imagination of the Nazi period—an era which blamed Jews for liberalism, modernity, and societal pluralism.

The report further addresses the AfD’s stance on historical memory, noting the party’s rejection of what it calls the “cult of guilt” related to Nazi crimes. This position, according to Rensmann, relativizes the Holocaust, inhibits expressions of national pride, and marginalizes Jewish perspectives on history. The party’s efforts promote secondary antisemitism—defined as hostility toward Jews stemming from resentment over Holocaust remembrance and perceived moral obligations.

Overall, the AJC report paints a picture of the AfD as concealing antisemitic themes beneath a veneer of mainstream political discourse, linking these patterns to its broader far-right ideological agenda.