AfD is campaigning with “deportation tickets” – like the NPD once did

The AfD is apparently relying entirely on attack in the federal election campaign – and on xenophobia: As the and ” (BNN), among others, report, the party’s advertising flyers with the inscription “Deportation ticket” have appeared around the cities of Karlsruhe and Göppingen. The brochures in the design of a Flight tickets were thrown into the mailboxes of people with a migrant background.

Already at the weekend at their party conference in Riesa, several AfD members could be seen in some camera angles holding the flyers in their hands. The AfD association Karlsruhe-Stadt is openly campaigning about it on its homepage. The AfD district association in Göppingen posted a picture of the flyer on Facebook at the party conference with the description: “It was nice here. But it’s nice at home too. Take care. The plane ticket is on us.”

The brochure is titled “Deportation Ticket – One Way Economy” and “Passenger Information”:

Passenger: Illegal immigrant
From: Germany – to: Safe country of origin
Flight: BTW2025
Gate: AFD

In addition, the date of the federal election, February 23rd, and seat 51P, which is probably aimed at the AfD’s goal of achieving 51 percent of the votes and thus an absolute majority in the Bundestag, and a QR code that goes to the AfD Karlsruhe homepage leads.

People are already reporting on several social networks that they had the xenophobic flyer in their mailbox.

Meanwhile, the criminal police announced that they had been made aware of the flyers through social media posts and had initiated an investigation on suspicion of sedition. The Karlsruhe left-wing Bundestag candidate Marcel Bauer condemned the action and announced that he would file a complaint.

As tasteless as the campaign is, this type of election advertising is not new. The “deportation tickets” are strongly reminiscent of an almost identical election advertisement by the right-wing extremist NPD (today “Die Heimat”) from 2013 with the inscription “Departure: Germany – Destination: Homeland”. Political scientists criticized the campaign at the time as xenophobic propaganda, as the “” The AfD Karlsruhe said in a statement: “We firmly reject any connection with an action by the then NPD that took place over a decade ago and is completely unknown to us. They probably also put up posters and ran information stands, so should we stop doing that?”

The Karlsruhe AfD city councilor Oliver Schnell noted to the SWR that in the discussion about the “deportation ticket” only the front side had been discussed and not the back side with what he believed to be legally compliant political demands. The AfD Karlsruhe also made a similar statement in the press release. In this, the party explains: “With this flyer we see the opportunity to make these completely legitimate and legally compliant demands known to voters in a streamlined form.

The AfD’s demands are listed in bullet points on the back of the “ticket”. Among other things, it advocates granting humanitarian stay only as long as there is a reason to flee. In addition, she only wants to distribute the citizen’s money to German citizens.

The election advertising flyer is currently being distributed in Karlsruhe in as large a number as possible and without any special requirements or restrictions. He should make the voters aware of the demands in this area that are “completely in line with the legal situation,” said the AfD in the press release.