Remigration and armaments: AfD with ICE fantasies

F riedrich Merz doesn't understand too much about Germany in 2026. But he has small moments of clarity that can be credited to him. The fact that he described the AfD's "remigration" plans as de facto "ethnic cleansing" in his Bundestag speech on Wednesday was one of them. There was great outrage in parts of the political media mainstream afterwards. The accusation was exaggerated and demonized the AfD for no reason, as Markus Lanz explained on Wednesday evening. Conservative historians also criticized Merz.

That lasted until Friday. Ulrich Siegmund, the AfD's top candidate in Saxony-Anhalt, explained: "We do not generally demonize the production of armaments because we will of course also need appropriate aids in later remigration and deportation offensives." Here, a top AfD politician openly announces that for him “remigration” is not just a violent undertaking, but one that requires military equipment. What else is this supposed to be if not a systematic and violent expulsion campaign against people who are perceived as non-German? The technical term for this is and remains: “ethnic cleansing”.

But it's about much more than just concepts. The point is that the AfD is currently expressing its goals more openly than ever before - and at the same time part of the German public is desperately trying not to notice this. As if the problem could be defined away. It's hard to believe that over 40 percent of voters in Saxony-Anhalt chose a party that is planning ethnic cleansing. And that in nationwide surveys almost 30 percent are considering it. But that's exactly how it is.

The taz is an independent, left-wing and opinionated daily newspaper. We have been arguing in our comments, essays and debate texts since the taz was founded in 1979. We often cannot and do not want to agree on an opinion. That's why you'll find some completely opposing positions here - all part of the very broad left-wing spectrum of opinions.

This huge problem certainly cannot be solved by desperately trying to reinterpret it. On the contrary: the first step to a successful response is to really understand what you are dealing with.