The AfD youth organization 'Generation Deutschland' established its state association in Thuringia on Saturday. State leader Björn Höcke vows the newcomers to the political fight and emphasizes Thuringia's leading role in the party. The founding took place amid controversial speeches with xenophobic tones.
In Ilmenau, the founding of the Thuringian state association of the AfD youth 'Generation Deutschland' (GD) took place on Saturday. The event was pathetically compared to the Hall of Mirrors in Versailles and the 1871 founding of the Reich. The federal association was established in November in Gießen, and now the states are following. The Thuringian AfD is classified as right-extremist by the constitutional protection agency.
State leader Björn Höcke emphasized the leadership claim in his speech: 'We are the most important state association of the AfD in Germany.' He addressed the youth: 'You are part of a performance community that continually perfects itself.' Höcke demanded turning the country 'from head to feet' and creating 'a new life for Germany' instead of being bystanders. He recalled his time in the Young Union and cited Helmut Kohl's plans from the 1980s to send Turkish citizens back: 'In that sense, the CDU invented remigration, not the AfD.'
The 23-year-old Carolin Lichtenheld was elected state chairwoman. In her speech, she recounted an incident at age 14 on a bus where an 'Arab-looking man' touched her. She called for a 'Fortress Europe' and echoed AfD narratives on assaults by foreigners. Vice Eric Engelhardt spoke of 'Ali and Mohamed' spreading 'fear and terror on schoolyards' and positioned remigration as a guiding principle.
Höcke told the RedaktionsNetzwerk Deutschland (RND) that integrating the youth into the party protects against ban proceedings. The same weekend, associations were founded in North Rhine-Westphalia, Schleswig-Holstein, and Saxony-Anhalt, where right-wing candidates prevailed. In NRW, Luca Hofrath won (165:88 votes); in SH, Jasper Griebel (with a right-extremist past); in Saxony-Anhalt, Florian Ruß (formerly Identitarian Movement, remigration demands). Lichtenheld stressed: There should be 'no distancing from the patriotic forefield'.
