134-534: Alternative for Germany ( German : Alternative für Deutschland , AfD , German pronunciation: [aːʔɛfˈdeː] ) is a far-right and right-wing populist political party in Germany. The AfD is Eurosceptic , and opposes immigration to Germany – especially of Muslims . The German judiciary has classified the party as a "suspected extremist " party. Established in April 2013, AfD narrowly missed
268-465: A de facto official language of Namibia after the end of German colonial rule alongside English and Afrikaans , and had de jure co-official status from 1984 until its independence from South Africa in 1990. However, the Namibian government perceived Afrikaans and German as symbols of apartheid and colonialism, and decided English would be the sole official language upon independence, stating that it
402-402: A second language , and 75–100 million as a foreign language . This would imply the existence of approximately 175–220 million German speakers worldwide. German sociolinguist Ulrich Ammon estimated a number of 289 million German foreign language speakers without clarifying the criteria by which he classified a speaker. As of 2012 , about 90 million people, or 16% of
536-721: A "180 degree" turn with regard to its sense of national pride. German language German (German: Deutsch , pronounced [dɔʏtʃ] ) is a West Germanic language in the Indo-European language family , mainly spoken in Western and Central Europe . It is the most spoken native language within the European Union . It is the most widely spoken and official (or co-official) language in Germany , Austria , Switzerland , Liechtenstein , and
670-612: A "commonly used" language and the Pan South African Language Board is obligated to promote and ensure respect for it. Cameroon was also a colony of the German Empire from the same period (1884 to 1916). However, German was replaced by French and English, the languages of the two successor colonial powers, after its loss in World War I . Nevertheless, since the 21st century, German has become
804-788: A "peaceful, democratic and sovereign nation-state of the German people ." Political scientists and journalists have also described the AfD as synonymous with opposition to immigration , Euroscepticism , and holding a nationalist bent, with various shades of German nationalism from civic nationalism to hardline sentiments visible in the party. Other commentators have categorized it as a radical right populist party or as "a typical radical right-wing populist party", with an emphasis on nativism . Within its elected representation and grassroots membership, AfD has grown to contain interparty factions that range from more moderate conservatives to radicals. AfD
938-707: A constructive opposition, and to make clear to voters that there is internal dissent in the AfD. She also said that she would be leaving the party at some future date. Petry formed the Blue Party in September 2017. Four members of AfD in the Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania legislature, including Bernhard Wild, also left the party to form Citizens for Mecklenburg-Vorpommern , which folded in December 2018. On 6 November 2019, Petry announced that
1072-645: A core concept in the constitutional law of the Federal Republic of Germany, originally West Germany , since 1949, and it played a significant role in the West German government's efforts to counteract communism during the Cold War . The concept is closely linked to the state doctrine of anti-communism in the Federal Republic of Germany (West Germany) during the Cold War. Examples include the ban of
1206-610: A currency area and that southern European states were "sinking into poverty under the competitive pressure of the euro". Some candidates of what would become AfD sought election in Lower Saxony as part of the Electoral Alternative 2013 in alliance with the Free Voters , an association participating in local elections without specific federal or foreign policies, and received 1% of the vote. In February 2013,
1340-440: A focus on German nationalism , on reclaiming Germany's sovereignty and national pride, especially in repudiation of Germany's culture of shame with regard to its Nazi past, became more central in AfD's ideology and a central plank in its populist appeals. Petry, who led the moderate wing of the party, said that Germany should reclaim völkisch from its Nazi connotations, while the more right-wing Björn Höcke regularly speaks of
1474-587: A further shift to the right after Petry left the party in 2017 and formed The Blue Party , following AfD's adoption of more hardline Islamophobic , anti-immigration positions, and historical revisionist remarks by leading AfD figures. The party now resembles other populist radical right parties in Europe but is somewhat unusual because it maintains visible ties to even more extreme groups. The party has been described by political scientists as more radical than many other European right-wing populist parties, including
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#17327656802741608-559: A greater need for regularity in written conventions. While the major changes of the MHG period were socio-cultural, High German was still undergoing significant linguistic changes in syntax, phonetics, and morphology as well (e.g. diphthongization of certain vowel sounds: hus (OHG & MHG "house") → haus (regionally in later MHG)→ Haus (NHG), and weakening of unstressed short vowels to schwa [ə]: taga (OHG "days")→ tage (MHG)). A great wealth of texts survives from
1742-548: A liberal democracy to ban parties that endanger liberal democracy itself has been termed "militant democracy", or "wehrhafte Demokratie" in German. While conceptually largely similar to broader definitions of liberal democracy , the liberal democratic basic order is distinguished by the measures that are allowed against "extreme" ideologies and groups to defend the order, such as the possibility to ban or officially monitor extremist groups. The liberal democratic basic order has been
1876-518: A long-standing law intended to benefit regional parties, any party that wins at least three constituency seats qualifies for its share of proportionally-elected seats, regardless of vote share. At a press conference held by AfD the day after the 2017 federal election, Frauke Petry said that she would participate in the Bundestag as an independent; she said she did this because extremist statements by some members made it impossible for AfD to function as
2010-646: A member of the party. In 2023, the AfD saw over 86 violent attacks on AfD party representatives. This was more than on any other German party. In January 2024, Correctiv reported that members of the AfD had secretly met with figures from the German and Austrian far-right in November 2023, in which they allegedly discussed a " remigration " plan for deporting immigrants, which could include naturalised German citizens. The figures present included Identitarian activist Martin Sellner . The AfD distanced itself from
2144-458: A native tongue today, mostly descendants of German colonial settlers . The period of German colonialism in Namibia also led to the evolution of a Standard German-based pidgin language called " Namibian Black German ", which became a second language for parts of the indigenous population. Although it is nearly extinct today, some older Namibians still have some knowledge of it. German remained
2278-665: A new party, the Alliance for Progress and Renewal , under the founding principles of AfD. The split off party was eventually renamed the Liberal Conservative Reformers , but had little electoral success. In February 2016, AfD announced a cooperation pact with the Freedom Party of Austria (FPÖ). On 8 March 2016, the bureau of the ECR group began motions to exclude AfD from their group due to its links with
2412-696: A popular foreign language among pupils and students, with 300,000 people learning or speaking German in Cameroon in 2010 and over 230,000 in 2020. Today Cameroon is one of the African countries outside Namibia with the highest number of people learning German. In the United States, German is the fifth most spoken language in terms of native and second language speakers after English, Spanish , French , and Chinese (with figures for Cantonese and Mandarin combined), with over 1 million total speakers. In
2546-618: A question and answer session organized by the Conservative Party-allied Bruges Group think tank in Portcullis House , London. In a detailed report in the conservative Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung in April 2013, the paper's Berlin-based political correspondent Majid Sattar revealed that the SPD and CDU had conducted opposition research to blunt the growth and attraction of AfD. Advocating
2680-483: A result, the surviving texts are written in highly disparate regional dialects and exhibit significant Latin influence, particularly in vocabulary. At this point monasteries, where most written works were produced, were dominated by Latin, and German saw only occasional use in official and ecclesiastical writing. While there is no complete agreement over the dates of the Middle High German (MHG) period, it
2814-510: A state election. The AfD also performed strongly in Brandenburg and Saxony . Defunct Defunct The AfD is broadly considered to be a right-wing and national-conservative movement in both socioeconomic and sociocultural terms. AfD's policy brief and mission statement seeks to define the party as both liberal and conservative, with an emphasis on protecting sovereignty , Western identity , and German culture in what it calls
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#17327656802742948-601: Is a recognized minority language in the following countries: In France, the High German varieties of Alsatian and Moselle Franconian are identified as " regional languages ", but the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages of 1998 has not yet been ratified by the government. Namibia also was a colony of the German Empire, from 1884 to 1915. About 30,000 people still speak German as
3082-559: Is also notable for its broad spectrum of dialects , with many varieties existing in Europe and other parts of the world. Some of these non-standard varieties have become recognized and protected by regional or national governments. Since 2004, heads of state of the German-speaking countries have met every year, and the Council for German Orthography has been the main international body regulating German orthography . German
3216-558: Is an Indo-European language that belongs to the West Germanic group of the Germanic languages . The Germanic languages are traditionally subdivided into three branches: North Germanic , East Germanic , and West Germanic . The first of these branches survives in modern Danish , Swedish , Norwegian , Faroese , and Icelandic , all of which are descended from Old Norse . The East Germanic languages are now extinct, and Gothic
3350-478: Is called the "German Sprachraum ". German is the official language of the following countries: German is a co-official language of the following countries: Although expulsions and (forced) assimilation after the two World wars greatly diminished them, minority communities of mostly bilingual German native speakers exist in areas both adjacent to and detached from the Sprachraum. Within Europe, German
3484-430: Is complicated by the existence of several varieties whose status as separate "languages" or "dialects" is disputed for political and linguistic reasons, including quantitatively strong varieties like certain forms of Alemannic and Low German . With the inclusion or exclusion of certain varieties, it is estimated that approximately 90–95 million people speak German as a first language , 10–25 million speak it as
3618-535: Is generally seen as ending when the 1346–53 Black Death decimated Europe's population. Modern High German begins with the Early New High German (ENHG) period, which Wilhelm Scherer dates 1350–1650, terminating with the end of the Thirty Years' War . This period saw the further displacement of Latin by German as the primary language of courtly proceedings and, increasingly, of literature in
3752-611: Is generally seen as lasting from 1050 to 1350. This was a period of significant expansion of the geographical territory occupied by Germanic tribes, and consequently of the number of German speakers. Whereas during the Old High German period the Germanic tribes extended only as far east as the Elbe and Saale rivers, the MHG period saw a number of these tribes expanding beyond this eastern boundary into Slavic territory (known as
3886-565: Is less closely related to languages based on Low Franconian dialects (e.g., Dutch and Afrikaans), Low German or Low Saxon dialects (spoken in northern Germany and southern Denmark ), neither of which underwent the High German consonant shift. As has been noted, the former of these dialect types is Istvaeonic and the latter Ingvaeonic, whereas the High German dialects are all Irminonic; the differences between these languages and standard German are therefore considerable. Also related to German are
4020-435: Is one of the major languages of the world . German is the second-most widely spoken Germanic language , after English, both as a first and as a second language . German is also widely taught as a foreign language , especially in continental Europe (where it is the third most taught foreign language after English and French), and in the United States. Overall, German is the fourth most commonly learned second language, and
4154-597: Is one of the three biggest newspapers in Namibia and the only German-language daily in Africa. An estimated 12,000 people speak German or a German variety as a first language in South Africa, mostly originating from different waves of immigration during the 19th and 20th centuries. One of the largest communities consists of the speakers of "Nataler Deutsch", a variety of Low German concentrated in and around Wartburg . The South African constitution identifies German as
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4288-401: Is partly derived from Latin and Greek , along with fewer words borrowed from French and Modern English . English, however, is the main source of more recent loanwords . German is a pluricentric language ; the three standardized variants are German , Austrian , and Swiss Standard German . Standard German is sometimes called High German , which refers to its regional origin. German
4422-525: Is the Sachsenspiegel , the first book of laws written in Middle Low German ( c. 1220 ). The abundance and especially the secular character of the literature of the MHG period demonstrate the beginnings of a standardized written form of German, as well as the desire of poets and authors to be understood by individuals on supra-dialectal terms. The Middle High German period
4556-578: Is the only language in this branch which survives in written texts. The West Germanic languages, however, have undergone extensive dialectal subdivision and are now represented in modern languages such as English, German, Dutch , Yiddish , Afrikaans , and others. Within the West Germanic language dialect continuum, the Benrath and Uerdingen lines (running through Düsseldorf - Benrath and Krefeld - Uerdingen , respectively) serve to distinguish
4690-433: Is understood in all areas where German is spoken. Approximate distribution of native German speakers (assuming a rounded total of 95 million) worldwide: As a result of the German diaspora , as well as the popularity of German taught as a foreign language , the geographical distribution of German speakers (or "Germanophones") spans all inhabited continents. However, an exact, global number of native German speakers
4824-689: The Ostsiedlung ). With the increasing wealth and geographic spread of the Germanic groups came greater use of German in the courts of nobles as the standard language of official proceedings and literature. A clear example of this is the mittelhochdeutsche Dichtersprache employed in the Hohenstaufen court in Swabia as a standardized supra-dialectal written language. While these efforts were still regionally bound, German began to be used in place of Latin for certain official purposes, leading to
4958-579: The Neue Rechte , and the Identitarian movement , and of employing historical revisionism , as well as xenophobic rhetoric. They have been observed by various state offices for the protection of the constitution since 2018. AfD's leadership has denied that the party is racist and has been internally divided on whether to endorse such groups. In January 2022, party leader Jörg Meuthen resigned his party chairmanship with immediate effect and left
5092-456: The de facto principal speaker of the party with 60% of the member votes ahead of Bernd Lucke at a party congress in Essen . Petry was a member of the national-conservative faction of AfD. Her leadership was widely seen as heralding a shift of the party to the right to focus more on issues such as immigration, Islam, and strengthening ties to Russia , a shift which was claimed by Lucke as turning
5226-474: The 2016 Berlin state election , which AfD also contested for the first time, the party achieved a vote of 14.2%, making them the fifth largest party represented in the state assembly. Their vote seems to have come equally from the SPD and CDU, whose votes declined 6.7% and 5.7%, respectively. At the party congress held on 30 April to 1 May 2016, AfD adopted a policy platform based upon opposition to Islam, calling for
5360-639: The Alamanni , Bavarian, and Thuringian groups, all belonging to the Elbe Germanic group ( Irminones ), which had settled in what is now southern-central Germany and Austria between the second and sixth centuries, during the great migration. In general, the surviving texts of Old High German (OHG) show a wide range of dialectal diversity with very little written uniformity. The early written tradition of OHG survived mostly through monasteries and scriptoria as local translations of Latin originals; as
5494-598: The Christian Democratic Union of Germany (CDU) to oppose the policies of the Eurozone as a right-wing and moderately Eurosceptic alternative to the centre-right but pro-European CDU. The party presented itself as an economically liberal , Eurosceptic , and conservative movement in its early years. AfD subsequently moved further to the right, and expanded its policies under successive leaderships to include opposition to immigration, Islam , and
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5628-537: The Early Middle Ages . German is an inflected language , with four cases for nouns, pronouns, and adjectives (nominative, accusative, genitive, dative); three genders (masculine, feminine, neuter) and two numbers (singular, plural). It has strong and weak verbs . The majority of its vocabulary derives from the ancient Germanic branch of the Indo-European language family, while a smaller share
5762-417: The European Union 's population, spoke German as their mother tongue, making it the second most widely spoken language on the continent after Russian and the second biggest language in terms of overall speakers (after English), as well as the most spoken native language. The area in central Europe where the majority of the population speaks German as a first language and has German as a (co-)official language
5896-463: The European Union . Since 2015, AfD's ideology has been characterised by German nationalism , Völkisch nationalism and national conservatism , with policy focus on opposing Islam , opposing immigration , welfare chauvinism and Euroscepticism . When party founder Bernd Lucke had left the AfD in 2015, he cited, among other reasons an “ anti-western , decidedly pro-Russian foreign and security policy orientation ” as well as increasing calls to “pose
6030-534: The Federal Constitutional Court , the free democratic order is defined thus: The free democratic basic order can be defined as an order which excludes any form of tyranny or arbitrariness and represents a governmental system under a rule of law, based upon self-determination of the people as expressed by the will of the existing majority and upon freedom and equality. The fundamental principles of this order include at least: respect for
6164-522: The German states . While these states were still part of the Holy Roman Empire , and far from any form of unification, the desire for a cohesive written language that would be understandable across the many German-speaking principalities and kingdoms was stronger than ever. As a spoken language German remained highly fractured throughout this period, with a vast number of often mutually incomprehensible regional dialects being spoken throughout
6298-746: The Holy Roman Emperor Maximilian I , and the other being Meißner Deutsch , used in the Electorate of Saxony in the Duchy of Saxe-Wittenberg . Alongside these courtly written standards, the invention of the printing press led to the development of a number of printers' languages ( Druckersprachen ) aimed at making printed material readable and understandable across as many diverse dialects of German as possible. The greater ease of production and increased availability of written texts brought about increased standardisation in
6432-666: The Old High German language in several Elder Futhark inscriptions from as early as the sixth century AD (such as the Pforzen buckle ), the Old High German period is generally seen as beginning with the Abrogans (written c. 765–775 ), a Latin-German glossary supplying over 3,000 Old High German words with their Latin equivalents. After the Abrogans , the first coherent works written in Old High German appear in
6566-665: The Social Democratic Party of Germany down 4.9%, CDU down 4.1%, The Left down 5.2%, Alliance '90/The Greens down 3.9%, and support for the National Democratic Party of Germany (NDP) halved, dropping to 3.0%. Rising support for AfD meant that The Greens and the NDP failed to reach the 5% threshold to qualify for seats in the Landtag of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern , and consequently lost their seats. In
6700-676: The Sprachraum in Europe. German is used in a wide variety of spheres throughout the country, especially in business, tourism, and public signage, as well as in education, churches (most notably the German-speaking Evangelical Lutheran Church in Namibia (GELK) ), other cultural spheres such as music, and media (such as German language radio programs by the Namibian Broadcasting Corporation ). The Allgemeine Zeitung
6834-550: The Standard German language in its written form, and the Duden Handbook was declared its standard definition. Punctuation and compound spelling (joined or isolated compounds) were not standardized in the process. The Deutsche Bühnensprache ( lit. ' German stage language ' ) by Theodor Siebs had established conventions for German pronunciation in theatres , three years earlier; however, this
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#17327656802746968-850: The Sweden Democrats , the Danish People's Party , and the Freedom Party of Austria . AfD has been described as, and accused of, containing members sympathetic to the Identitarian movement and Pegida . The AfD leadership has been split on whether to embrace these movements within the party. In March 2020, the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution ( German : Bundesamt für Verfassungsschutz ) classified AfD's far-right nationalistic faction known as Der Flügel as "a right-wing extremist endeavor against
7102-513: The Upper German dialects spoken in the southern German-speaking countries , such as Swiss German ( Alemannic dialects ) and the various Germanic dialects spoken in the French region of Grand Est , such as Alsatian (mainly Alemannic, but also Central–and Upper Franconian dialects) and Lorraine Franconian (Central Franconian). After these High German dialects, standard German
7236-429: The Vaterland ("fatherland") and Volk ("nation" or "people", but with a strong ethnic or racial connotation). In January 2017, Höcke in a speech stated, in reference to the Berlin Holocaust Memorial , that "Germans are the only people in the world who plant a monument of shame in the heart of the capital" and criticized this "laughable policy of coming to terms with the past ". Höcke continued that Germany should make
7370-427: The Young Alternative for Germany was founded in Darmstadt as the AfD's youth organisation. During the British prime minister David Cameron 's visit to Germany in April 2013, the Conservative Party was reported to have contacted both AfD and the Free Voters to discuss possible cooperation, supported by the European Conservatives and Reformists (ECR) group of the European Parliament. In June 2013, Bernd Lucke gave
7504-445: The human rights given concrete form in the Basic Law, in particular for the right of a person to life and free development; popular sovereignty; separation of powers ; responsibility of government; lawfulness of administration; independence of the judiciary; the multi-party principle; and equality of opportunities for all political parties. People and groups that threaten the liberal democratic basic order are referred to as "enemies of
7638-408: The pagan Germanic tradition. Of particular interest to scholars, however, has been the Hildebrandslied , a secular epic poem telling the tale of an estranged father and son unknowingly meeting each other in battle. Linguistically, this text is highly interesting due to the mixed use of Old Saxon and Old High German dialects in its composition. The written works of this period stem mainly from
7772-421: The run-off election held on 2 July, the AfD candidate Hannes Loth [ de ] won against the independent politician Nils Naumann, becoming AfD's first ever mayor. On October 8 state elections, AfD significantly increased its share in Hesse where it became the second biggest party (+9 seats) and in Bavaria , where it became the third (+10 seats). Observers considered the increase of support for
7906-399: The 5% electoral threshold to sit in the Bundestag during the 2013 German federal election . The party won seven seats in the 2014 European Parliament election in Germany as a member of the European Conservatives and Reformists (ECR). After securing representation in 14 of the 16 German state parliaments by October 2017, AfD won 94 seats in the 2017 German federal election and became
8040-399: The AfD as not being limited to the local level. Opinion polling for the next German federal election conducted in early July 2023 showed that the AfD polled more than the SPD, achieving second place behind the CDU/CSU alliance. The SPD co-leader said a ban should be considered if the AfD is categorized as a group of "proven Right-wing extremists" by the Federal Office for the Protection of
8174-446: The AfD was dismissed because "there were sufficient factual indications of anti-constitutional efforts within the AfD". The dismissal was upheld in May 2024. On 26 April 2023, the BfV, after four years of investigations into the Young Alternative for Germany , categorized that group as a confirmed extremist organisation. This allowed the chief of the BfV Thomas Haldenwang to place the youth wing under even more intensive surveillance than
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#17327656802748308-706: The AfD won 9 more seats compared to 2017 to a total of 18. In the 2023 Berlin repeat state election , the AfD recorded a small upswing by gaining 4 seats compared to the 2021 election. In the 2023 Bremen state election , AfD did not participate and lost all their seats, as the Bremen electoral committee had barred the AfD from the election due to internal divisions that had resulted in them submitting two lists of candidates. The Citizens in Rage , another right-wing party, participated instead; they have received 10 seats (after having only one seat in 2019) in Bremen's state parliament. On 25 June 2023, amid rises in polls, Thuringia 's AfD won its first district election in Sonneberg . In
8442-473: The AfD, as he said he came to acknowledge that the party had developed very far to the right with totalitarian traits and in large parts was no longer based on the liberal democratic basic order . The party is the strongest in the areas of the former communist German Democratic Republic ( East Germany ), especially the states of Saxony and Thuringia , largely due to economic and integration issues that still continue to persist post-reunification, in addition to
8576-457: The AfD. Subsequently, the AfD was expelled from the ID group , with EKRE supporting expulsion of Krah, but opposing the removal of the entire AfD delegation, and the FPÖ opposing the expulsion of the AfD. On 9 June 2024, the AfD won 16% of the vote in the European Parliament elections, second only to the CDU/CSU and almost five percentage points more than in the 2019 election. The AfD prevailed in all five former East German states. One of
8710-460: The Alliance for Progress and Renewal, which was renamed the Liberal Conservative Reformers in November 2016. At that time, AfD was performing poorly in opinion polls, polling at around 3%, and was suffering infighting; however, an influx of refugees and migrants boosted their support later in 2015, with the party turning from matters related to the Eurozone to focus on opposing migration, in particular Muslims and Muslim immigration. AfD underwent
8844-449: The Blue Party would dissolve by the end of the year In 2018, André Poggenburg , AfD's regional leader of the eastern Saxony-Anhalt state, resigned his post after making racist remarks concerning Turks and immigrants with dual citizenship. In 2019, Poggenburg started a new far-right party, Aufbruch deutscher Patrioten – Mitteldeutschland (ADPM), which he left in August 2019 after his internal call to dissolve ADPM and to support AfD in
8978-422: The British prime minister David Cameron . On 31 August, AfD scored 9.7% of the vote in the 2014 Saxony state election , winning 14 seats in the Landtag of Saxony . On 14 September, AfD obtained 10.6% of the vote in the 2014 Thuringian and 12.2% in the Brandenburg state election , winning 11 seats in both state parliaments. On 15 February 2015, AfD won 6.1% of the vote in the Hamburg state election , gaining
9112-406: The Communist Party in 1956 and 1972 Anti-Radical Decree aimed at far-left radicalism. The German Restitution Laws also contained a "communist exception" that specifically determined that "enemies of the liberal democratic basic order", in practice communists, were not entitled to compensation for earlier Nazi persecution. Communist groups have been extensively monitored by the Federal Office for
9246-431: The Constitution . Friedrich Merz , the CDU leader, warned that "banning parties has never actually solved political problems". Germans are evenly split on a ban, with 47 per cent in favour and 47 per cent against; the ban is more popular in the west and among liberal Greens. In December 2023, Tim Lochner of AfD was elected mayor of Pirna (Saxony), he became the first mayor of a city with more than 20,000 inhabitants to be
9380-400: The Constitution" or "extremist" in German government and legal language. Parties as well as groups can be banned if they strive to abolish the FDGO, which has been done so successfully in regard to the Communist Party of Germany (1956) and the Socialist Reich Party (1952). In 2003, as well as in 2017, attempts to ban the National Democratic Party of Germany (NPD) failed. The willingness of
9514-491: The Constitution" or "extremists". In practice, the concept has been used to target far-right and far-left groups and in the ideological struggle against East German communism during the Cold War , when the concept was closely linked to the state doctrine of anti-communism in West Germany. Theoretically the concept is associated with anti-totalitarianism and with the scholarly field of democracy and extremism research in Germany. While often relying upon scholars in this field,
9648-498: The East German voters' perceived propensity for strongman rule. In the 2021 federal elections, AfD fell from third to fifth place overall but made gains in the eastern states (the former East Germany). In the former East Berlin it came in second after SPD with 20.5% of the vote, while in the west it came in fifth with 8.4% of the vote. In September 2012, Alexander Gauland , Bernd Lucke , and journalist Konrad Adam founded
9782-723: The Empire. Its use indicated that the speaker was a merchant or someone from an urban area, regardless of nationality. Prague (German: Prag ) and Budapest ( Buda , German: Ofen ), to name two examples, were gradually Germanized in the years after their incorporation into the Habsburg domain; others, like Pressburg ( Pozsony , now Bratislava), were originally settled during the Habsburg period and were primarily German at that time. Prague, Budapest, Bratislava, and cities like Zagreb (German: Agram ) or Ljubljana (German: Laibach ), contained significant German minorities. In
9916-713: The European election list, ruled out forming a group with the UKIP. stating that he saw the Conservatives as the preferred partner in the European Parliament. On 10 May 2014, Lucke had been in talks with the Czech and Polish member parties of the ECR group. In the 2014 European Parliament election on 25 May, AfD came in fifth place in Germany, with 7.1% of the national vote (2,065,162 votes), and seven Members of
10050-429: The European elections unconstitutional, and the 2014 European Parliament election became the first run in Germany without a barrier for representation. AfD held a party conference on 25 January 2014 at Frankenstolz Arena , Aschaffenburg , northwest Bavaria . The conference chose the slogan Mut zu Deutschland ("Courage [to stand up] for Germany") to replace the former slogan Mut zur Wahrheit (lit. "Courage [to speak]
10184-399: The European parliament (MEPs). On 12 June 2014, it was announced that AfD had been accepted into the ECR group in the European Parliament. The official vote result was not released to the public, but figures of 29 votes for and 26 against were reported by the membership. The inclusion of AfD in the ECR group was said to have caused mild tensions between the German chancellor Angela Merkel and
10318-788: The Eurozone, opposition to immigration , and opposed same-sex marriage . During this period, the party espoused economic liberal , ordoliberal , and national liberal policy stances. Former party MEP Hans-Olaf Henkel likened AfD's early platform to the Conservative Party in Britain rather than hard Eurosceptic or nationalist parties such as the UK Independence Party or the National Front in France. AfD
10452-748: The Frisian languages— North Frisian (spoken in Nordfriesland ), Saterland Frisian (spoken in Saterland ), and West Frisian (spoken in Friesland )—as well as the Anglic languages of English and Scots. These Anglo-Frisian dialects did not take part in the High German consonant shift, and the Anglic languages also adopted much vocabulary from both Old Norse and the Norman language . The history of
10586-437: The German commonwealth. As such, it is the core substance of the German constitution . Building upon more general definitions of liberal democracy , the term has a specific legal meaning in Germany and is part of the German (originally West German ) system of a Streitbare Demokratie ("fortified democracy") that bans attempts to dismantle the liberal democratic basic order by what German authorities refer to as "enemies of
10720-483: The German language begins with the High German consonant shift during the Migration Period , which separated Old High German dialects from Old Saxon . This sound shift involved a drastic change in the pronunciation of both voiced and voiceless stop consonants ( b , d , g , and p , t , k , respectively). The primary effects of the shift were the following below. While there is written evidence of
10854-451: The German states; the invention of the printing press c. 1440 and the publication of Luther's vernacular translation of the Bible in 1534, however, had an immense effect on standardizing German as a supra-dialectal written language. The ENHG period saw the rise of several important cross-regional forms of chancery German, one being gemeine tiutsch , used in the court of
10988-681: The Germanic dialects that were affected by the High German consonant shift (south of Benrath) from those that were not (north of Uerdingen). The various regional dialects spoken south of these lines are grouped as High German dialects, while those spoken to the north comprise the Low German and Low Franconian dialects. As members of the West Germanic language family, High German, Low German, and Low Franconian have been proposed to be further distinguished historically as Irminonic , Ingvaeonic , and Istvaeonic , respectively. This classification indicates their historical descent from dialects spoken by
11122-655: The Irminones (also known as the Elbe group), Ingvaeones (or North Sea Germanic group), and Istvaeones (or Weser–Rhine group). Standard German is based on a combination of Thuringian - Upper Saxon and Upper Franconian dialects, which are Central German and Upper German dialects belonging to the High German dialect group. German is therefore closely related to the other languages based on High German dialects, such as Luxembourgish (based on Central Franconian dialects ) and Yiddish . Also closely related to Standard German are
11256-1033: The Italian autonomous province of South Tyrol . It is also an official language of Luxembourg , Belgium and the Italian autonomous region of Friuli-Venezia Giulia , as well as a recognized national language in Namibia . There are also notable German-speaking communities in France ( Alsace ), the Czech Republic ( North Bohemia ), Poland ( Upper Silesia ), Slovakia ( Košice Region , Spiš , and Hauerland ), Denmark ( North Schleswig ), Romania and Hungary ( Sopron ). Overseas, sizeable communities of German-speakers are found in Brazil ( Blumenau and Pomerode ), South Africa ( Kroondal ), Namibia , among others, some communities have decidedly Austrian German or Swiss German characters (e.g. Pozuzo , Peru). German
11390-518: The MHG period. Significantly, these texts include a number of impressive secular works, such as the Nibelungenlied , an epic poem telling the story of the dragon -slayer Siegfried ( c. thirteenth century ), and the Iwein , an Arthurian verse poem by Hartmann von Aue ( c. 1203 ), lyric poems , and courtly romances such as Parzival and Tristan . Also noteworthy
11524-561: The abolition of the euro, AfD took a more radical stance than the Free Voters. The Pirate Party Germany opposed any coalition with AfD at their 2013 spring convention. The AfD's initial supporters were the same prominent economists, business leaders, and journalists who had supported the Electoral Alternative 2013, including former members of the Christian Democratic Union of Germany (CDU), who had previously challenged
11658-478: The agency stated it would not make public announcements regarding investigations into the AfD or its candidates for the foreseeable future. After the revelations, the surveillance was blocked by the courts to give equal opportunities among political parties in a key election year. In 2022, it was ruled that the BfV may classify and monitor the entire party as a suspected right-wing extremist group. A corresponding lawsuit by
11792-435: The ban of Islamic symbols including burqas , minarets , and adhan (call to prayer), using the slogan "Islam is not a part of Germany". At the party conference in April 2017, Frauke Petry announced that she would not run as the party's main candidate for the 2017 federal election. This announcement grew out of internal power struggle as the party's support had fallen in polls from 15% in the summer of 2016 to 7% just before
11926-455: The conference. Björn Höcke from the far-right wing of the party and Petry were attempting to push each other out of the party. Petry's decision was partly seen as a step to avoid a vote at the conference on the issue of her standing. The party chose Alexander Gauland, a stark conservative who worked as an editor and was a former member of the CDU, to lead the party in the elections. Gauland supported
12060-543: The constitutionality of the German government's eurozone policies at the Federal Constitutional Court . AfD did not regard itself as a splinter party from the CDU, as its early membership also contained a former state leader from the Free Democratic Party and members of the Federation of Independent Voters, a pressure group of independents and small business owners. On 22 September 2013, AfD won 4.7% of
12194-466: The country's constitution to allow people born to non-German parents to have their German citizenship revoked if they commit serious crimes." In the 2017 federal election, AfD won 12.6% of the vote and received 94 seats; this was the first time it had won seats in the Bundestag . It won three constituency seats, which would have been enough to qualify for proportionally-elected seats in any event. Under
12328-401: The decision that a group threatens the liberal democratic basic order is ultimately a political decision that is the responsibility of the interior minister at the state or federal level, or, in the case of a ban, a legal decision that is decided by the judiciary. The FDGO touches on the political order and the societal and political values on which German liberal democracy rests. According to
12462-478: The defection of Jochen Paulus from the Free Democratic Party to AfD in early May 2013; he was not re-elected and left office in January 2014. In the 2013 Hesse state election held on 22 September, the same day as the 2013 federal election, AfD failed to gain representation with just 4% of the vote. In early 2014, the Federal Constitutional Court of Germany ruled the proposed 3% vote hurdle for representation in
12596-430: The development of non-local forms of language and exposed all speakers to forms of German from outside their own area. With Luther's rendering of the Bible in the vernacular, German asserted itself against the dominance of Latin as a legitimate language for courtly, literary, and now ecclesiastical subject-matter. His Bible was ubiquitous in the German states: nearly every household possessed a copy. Nevertheless, even with
12730-456: The dialect so as to make the work as natural and accessible to German speakers as possible. Copies of Luther's Bible featured a long list of glosses for each region, translating words which were unknown in the region into the regional dialect. Luther said the following concerning his translation method: One who would talk German does not ask the Latin how he shall do it; he must ask the mother in
12864-490: The dominant national issue, elections on 13 March were held in the three states of Baden-Württemberg , Rhineland-Palatinate , and Saxony-Anhalt , and saw the AfD receiving double-digit percentages of the vote in all three states. In the 2016 Saxony-Anhalt state election , AfD reached second place in the Landtag, receiving 24.2% of the vote. In the 2016 Baden-Württemberg state election , AfD achieved third place, with 15.1% of
12998-519: The eastern provinces of Banat , Bukovina , and Transylvania (German: Banat, Buchenland, Siebenbürgen ), German was the predominant language not only in the larger towns—like Temeschburg ( Timișoara ), Hermannstadt ( Sibiu ), and Kronstadt ( Brașov )—but also in many smaller localities in the surrounding areas. In 1901, the Second Orthographic Conference ended with a (nearly) complete standardization of
13132-506: The far-right FPÖ, inviting the two remaining AfD MEPs to leave the group by 31 March, with a motion of exclusion to be tabled on 12 April if they refuse to leave voluntarily. While MEP Beatrix von Storch left the ECR group on 8 April to join the Europe of Freedom and Direct Democracy group, Marcus Pretzell let himself be expelled on 12 April 2016. With the European migrant crisis remaining
13266-689: The following weekend to choose the remaining euro candidates. Candidates from 7th–28th place on the party list were selected in Berlin on 1 February. Party chairman Bernd Lucke was elected as lead candidate. In February 2014, AfD officials said they had discussed alliances with Britain's anti-EU UK Independence Party (UKIP), which Lucke and the federal board of AfD opposed, and also with the European Conservatives and Reformists (ECR) group, to which Britain's Conservative Party belongs. In April 2014, Hans-Olaf Henkel , AfD's second candidate on
13400-566: The free democratic basic order" and as "not compatible with the Basic Law", placing it under government surveillance. In early March 2021, most of Germany's major media outlets reported that the Bundesverfassungsschutz had placed the whole AfD under surveillance as a "suspected extremist group". In response to claims from AfD members that the move was intended to damage the party's chances in the 2021 German federal election ,
13534-689: The group decided to found a new party to compete in the 2013 federal election; according to a leaked email from Lucke, the Free Voters leadership declined to join forces. The party was founded on 6 February 2013. On 14 April 2013, the AfD announced its presence to the wider public when it held its first convention in Berlin , elected the party leadership, and adopted a party platform. Bernd Lucke, entrepreneur Frauke Petry and Konrad Adam were elected as speakers. AfD's federal board also chose Alexander Gauland, Roland Klaus, and Patricia Casale as its three deputy speakers. The party elected treasurer Norbert Stenzel and
13668-435: The home, the children on the streets, the common man in the market-place and note carefully how they talk, then translate accordingly. They will then understand what is said to them because it is German. When Christ says ' ex abundantia cordis os loquitur ,' I would translate, if I followed the papists, aus dem Überflusz des Herzens redet der Mund . But tell me is this talking German? What German understands such stuff? No,
13802-481: The influence of Luther's Bible as an unofficial written standard, a widely accepted standard for written German did not appear until the middle of the eighteenth century. German was the language of commerce and government in the Habsburg Empire , which encompassed a large area of Central and Eastern Europe . Until the mid-nineteenth century, it was essentially the language of townspeople throughout most of
13936-435: The largest concentrations of German speakers are in the states of Rio Grande do Sul (where Riograndenser Hunsrückisch developed), Santa Catarina , and Espírito Santo . Liberal democratic basic order The liberal democratic basic order ( German : Freiheitliche demokratische Grundordnung , FDGO ) is a fundamental term in German constitutional law . It determines the unalienable, invariable core structure of
14070-507: The latter of whom attributed the slight decline to visible infighting, whereas AfD candidates such as Alice Weidel blamed media bias against the party. Political scientist Kai Arzheimer commented that the result "wasn't any appreciable increase, but it wasn't a disaster for them." Arzheimer also posited that the result demonstrated that AfD had firmly established itself in German national politics but had not reached beyond its core support. AfD's top candidates Tino Chrupalla and Weidel praised
14204-519: The mandate for eight seats in the Hamburg Parliament , winning their first seats in a western German state. On 10 May 2015, AfD secured in the 5.5% of the vote in the 2015 Bremen state election gaining representation in their fifth state parliament on a 50% turnout. After months of factional infighting and a cancelled party gathering in June 2015, Frauke Petry was elected on 4 July 2015 as
14338-402: The meeting, saying it was not responsible for what was discussed and that its members had attended only in a personal capacity. Alice Weidel parted ways with Roland Hartwig , an advisor who was present at the meeting. The plan was condemned by German politicians, including chancellor Olaf Scholz . The report sparked protests against the AfD across Germany, with protestors calling for a ban of
14472-609: The more hardline identitarian Der Flügel (The Wing) faction, comprising figures at state level such as Thuringia state leader Björn Höcke . Political author Jeffrey Gedmin has described the present incarnation of AfD as somewhat lacking in a consistent ideological vision and containing a broad church of members who are conservatives, social conservatives, radical-rightists, and others who do not present clear ideological narrative. He also described some of its core voter support as ranging from far-right nationalists to moderate but traditionalist and disaffected conservatives. Over time,
14606-402: The mother in the home and the plain man would say, Wesz das Herz voll ist, des gehet der Mund über . Luther's translation of the Bible into High German was also decisive for the German language and its evolution from Early New High German to modern Standard German. The publication of Luther's Bible was a decisive moment in the spread of literacy in early modern Germany , and promoted
14740-653: The ninth century, chief among them being the Muspilli , Merseburg charms , and Hildebrandslied , and other religious texts (the Georgslied , Ludwigslied , Evangelienbuch , and translated hymns and prayers). The Muspilli is a Christian poem written in a Bavarian dialect offering an account of the soul after the Last Judgment , and the Merseburg charms are transcriptions of spells and charms from
14874-517: The party into a " Pegida party". In the following week, five MEPs exited the party on 7 July, the only remaining MEPs being Beatrix von Storch and Marcus Pretzell , and Lucke announced on 8 July 2015 that he was resigning from AfD, citing the rise of xenophobic and pro-Russian sentiments in the party. At a meeting of members of the Wake-up call (Weckruf 2015) group on 19 July 2015, AfD founder Bernd Lucke and former AfD members announced they would form
15008-504: The party's leaders, Tino Chrupalla , hailed the results as "historic." In an attempt to rejoin the ID group , the AfD replaced its controversial candidate Maximilian Krah with René Aust as head of the AfD delegation in the European Parliament. In the 2024 Thuringian state election , the AfD became the first far-right party in Germany since the Nazi Party to win a plurality of seats in
15142-465: The political group Electoral Alternative 2013 ( German : Wahlalternative 2013 ) in Bad Nauheim , to oppose German federal policies concerning the eurozone crisis , and to confront German-supported bailouts for poorer southern European countries. Their manifesto was endorsed by several economists, journalists, and business leaders, and stated that the eurozone had proven to be " unsuitable " as
15276-462: The pronunciation of the ending -ig as [ɪk] instead of [ɪç]. In Northern Germany, High German was a foreign language to most inhabitants, whose native dialects were subsets of Low German. It was usually encountered only in writing or formal speech; in fact, most of High German was a written language, not identical to any spoken dialect, throughout the German-speaking area until well into the 19th century. However, wider standardization of pronunciation
15410-499: The result as "solid", while party spokesman Jörg Meuthen stated that the party should reevaluate the result and aim on "sending strong signals towards the center" to win back new voters. Meuthen left the party in January 2022. AfD held their three seats in the 2022 Saarland state election . At the same time, they lost all their seats in the 2022 Schleswig-Holstein state election . In the 2022 Lower Saxony state election in October,
15544-455: The retention of Höcke's party membership. Alice Weidel, who is perceived as more moderate and neoliberal , was elected as his running mate. The party approved a platform that, according to The Wall Street Journal , "urges Germany to close its borders to asylum applicants, end sanctions on Russia and to leave the EU if Berlin fails to retrieve national sovereignty from Brussels, as well as to amend
15678-546: The states of North Dakota and South Dakota , German is the most common language spoken at home after English. As a legacy of significant German immigration to the country , German geographical names can be found throughout the Midwest region , such as New Ulm and Bismarck (North Dakota's state capital), plus many other regions. A number of German varieties have developed in the country and are still spoken today, such as Pennsylvania Dutch and Texas German . In Brazil,
15812-481: The tapping of phone and the use of undercover agents that had been the case until then. Political commentators and analysts have described the party as containing two prominent factions: subscribers to the more dovish and moderate national-conservative Alternative Mitte (Alternative Midpoint) wing, such as parliamentarians Jörg Meuthen , Alice Weidel , and Beatrix von Storch , who oppose collaboration with movements or figures like Pegida founder Lutz Bachmann ; and
15946-500: The third most commonly learned second language in the United States in K-12 education. The language has been influential in the fields of philosophy, theology, science, and technology. It is the second most commonly used language in science and the third most widely used language on websites . The German-speaking countries are ranked fifth in terms of annual publication of new books, with one-tenth of all books (including e-books) in
16080-450: The third-largest party in the country, as well as the largest opposition party; its lead candidates were the co-vice chairman Alexander Gauland and Alice Weidel , the latter having served as the party group leader in the 19th Bundestag . In the 2021 federal election , AfD dropped to being the fifth-largest party. Since 2023 polling shows AfD as the second most popular party. AfD was founded by Gauland, Bernd Lucke , and former members of
16214-404: The three assessors Irina Smirnova, Beatrix Diefenbach, and Wolf-Joachim Schünemann. Economist Joachim Starbatty , along with Jörn Kruse , Helga Luckenbach , Dirk Meyer , and Roland Vaubel , were elected to the party's scientific advisory board. Between 31 March and 12 May 2013, AfD founded affiliates in all 16 states of Germany in order to participate in the federal elections. On 15 June 2013,
16348-414: The truth", or more succinctly, "Telling it as it is"), which prompted disagreement among the federal board that the party could be seen as too anti-European. A compromise was reached by using the slogan "MUT ZU D*EU*TSCHLAND", with the "EU" in "DEUTSCHLAND" encircled by the 12 stars of the European flag . The conference elected the top six candidates for the European elections on 26 January 2014 and met again
16482-473: The upcoming state elections of fall 2019 was denied. Ahead of the 2021 federal election, AfD campaigned with the slogan "Germany. But Normal" and took a position of opposing further lockdowns in response to the COVID-19 pandemic in Germany . Having moved further right on economic issues and remaining strongly right on socio-cultural issues, despite attempts to normalize, AfD's manifesto for the federal election
16616-625: The vote. In the 2016 Rhineland-Palatinate state election , AfD again reached third place, with 12.6% of the vote. In Angela Merkel 's home state of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern , her CDU was beaten into third place following a strong showing of AfD, who contested at state level for the first time, to claim the second-highest polling with 20.8% of the vote in the 2016 Mecklenburg-Vorpommern state election . AfD voter support in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania appears to have come from both left-wing and right-wing parties, with support for
16750-430: The votes in the 2013 federal election, just missing the 5% barrier to enter the Bundestag . The party won about 2 million party list votes and 810,000 constituency votes, which was 1.9% of the total of these votes cast across Germany. AfD did not participate in the 2013 Bavaria state election held on 15 September. The party gained parliamentary representation for the first time in the state parliament of Hesse , with
16884-555: The world being published in German. German is most closely related to other West Germanic languages, namely Afrikaans , Dutch , English , the Frisian languages , and Scots . It also contains close similarities in vocabulary to some languages in the North Germanic group , such as Danish , Norwegian , and Swedish . Modern German gradually developed from Old High German , which in turn developed from Proto-Germanic during
17018-600: The written form of German. One of the central events in the development of ENHG was the publication of Luther's translation of the Bible into High German (the New Testament was published in 1522; the Old Testament was published in parts and completed in 1534). Luther based his translation primarily on the Meißner Deutsch of Saxony , spending much time among the population of Saxony researching
17152-446: The ‘system question’ with regard to our parliamentary democracy” as reasons for his departure from the party. The AfD is the only party represented in the Bundestag whose environmental and climate policy is based on the denial of human-caused global warming . Several state associations and other factions of AfD have been linked to or accused of harboring connections with far-right nationalist and proscribed movements, such as PEGIDA ,
17286-429: Was a "neutral" language as there were virtually no English native speakers in Namibia at that time. German, Afrikaans, and several indigenous languages thus became "national languages" by law, identifying them as elements of the cultural heritage of the nation and ensuring that the state acknowledged and supported their presence in the country. Today, Namibia is considered to be the only German-speaking country outside of
17420-459: Was also compared to the Tea Party movement by some media outlets due to its campaigns against Eurozone bailouts, although AfD's early leadership disputed this and said it was not looking to attract right-wing extremists into the party. In 2015, more moderate members, including founder and former chairman Bernd Lucke , left AfD after Frauke Petry was elected chairperson to found a new party,
17554-547: Was an artificial standard that did not correspond to any traditional spoken dialect. Rather, it was based on the pronunciation of German in Northern Germany, although it was subsequently regarded often as a general prescriptive norm, despite differing pronunciation traditions especially in the Upper-German-speaking regions that still characterise the dialect of the area today – especially
17688-420: Was deemed to be still too radical for the party to take part in government. In the federal election, AfD saw a dip in national vote share by getting 10.3% of the vote, compared to 12.6% in 2017; however, the party emerged as the largest in the states of Saxony and Thuringia , and saw a strong performance in eastern Germany . The party's results drew a mixed analysis from AfD members and political commentators,
17822-492: Was established on the basis of public speaking in theatres and the media during the 20th century and documented in pronouncing dictionaries. Official revisions of some of the rules from 1901 were not issued until the controversial German orthography reform of 1996 was made the official standard by governments of all German-speaking countries. Media and written works are now almost all produced in Standard German which
17956-444: Was initially founded as a liberal conservative party of the middle class , with a tendency toward soft Euroscepticism , being supportive of Germany's membership in the European Union but critical of further European integration , the existence of the euro currency and the bailouts by the Eurozone for countries such as Greece. At that time, the party also advocated support for Swiss-style semi-direct democracy , major reforms to
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