Final 12 months’s Correctiv exposé of a gathering of right-wing extremists in Potsdam confirmed simply how a lot steam has constructed up behind the völkisch (ethno-nationalist) idea of “remigration” – and it’s now extra related than ever. For, regardless of the response to its use at that assembly, at its latest occasion convention in Riesa the AfD inserted the time period into its election manifesto.
On this article, Correctiv explains precisely what is supposed by “remigration”. Within the course of, it attracts on sources whom its editorial workforce have an obligation to guard. The article additionally quotes statements made each in Potsdam and in movies, largely by the far-right activist Martin Sellner, extensively thought of to be the ideological chief of the Identitarian motion.
What was stated in Potsdam?
On 25 November 2023, a bunch of right-wing extremists, ethno-nationalist ideologues, high-ranking AfD officers, CDU members, entrepreneurs and legal professionals gathered to debate Martin Sellner’s “overarching remigration idea”.
In the midst of that assembly, Sellner proposed a coverage of “remigration” for asylum seekers, non-Germans with the proper to stay and “unassimilated residents”, including that, in his view, “unassimilated residents” (i.e. Germans with a migration background who had not sufficiently tailored to the methods of the German folks, in line with Sellner) had been “the largest downside”. His resolution: such folks needed to be put underneath “robust strain to adapt” – via “tailor-made legal guidelines”, for instance. “Remigration” was not one thing that might be achieved in a single day, however can be “a decade-long venture”, he stated.
What do ‘tailor-made legal guidelines’ imply in a historic context?
German historical past presents us with an instance of tailor-made legal guidelines being utilized to sure residents, particularly the developments culminating within the Nuremberg Legal guidelines of 1935, which stripped Jewish residents in Germany of their rights […] and paved the way in which for his or her extermination. It’s important to recollect this historic perspective when Sellner talks about “tailor-made legal guidelines” for the “remigration” of “unassimilated residents,” and a “decade-long venture”.
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Nonetheless, Sellner’s “tailor-made legal guidelines” definitely sound to begin out innocently sufficient. In a video for the far-right journal Compact, he tries to show their supposed harmlessness by evaluating them to the restrictive immigration laws in Social Democrat-governed Denmark.
What’s it that roots Sellner’s worldview in völkisch ideology?
Martin Sellner repeatedly makes use of völkisch terminology and concepts in his lectures and books; in his 2023 e-book, Regime Change von rechts [Regime Change from the Right], he even attracts explicitly on the highest lawyer of the Nazi period, Carl Schmitt. On this e-book, Sellner states that the primary purpose of the Proper is to protect “ethno-cultural identification”, which should be protected against “inhabitants alternate”. The parable of “inhabitants alternate” is predicated on fears of racial substitute, and is central to the völkisch Proper. Völkisch ideology is rooted within the assumption {that a} group can solely include “its personal”, and that something “alien” should due to this fact be suppressed.
How do the courts view Sellner’s plan for ‘remigration’? Would it not be appropriate with the Structure?
There have been a number of courtroom rulings suggesting that the “remigration” of “unassimilated” residents on the premise of an ethno-cultural idea of what constitutes “the folks” wouldn’t be appropriate with the Structure.
On 13 Might 2024, the Münster Larger Administrative Courtroom rejected an AfD criticism about being monitored by the Federal Workplace for the Safety of the Structure [the internal security services]. The courtroom’s reasoning included the next sentence: “What’s unconstitutional and incompatible with human dignity, nonetheless, is the linking of an ‘ethno-cultural idea of the folks’ to a political goal that undermines the authorized equality of all residents.”
Does Sellner’s “remigration” plan undermine the authorized equality of all residents?
The Structure ensures the authorized equality of all residents, no matter origin and gender. This equality is undermined when sure residents are handled otherwise on the premise of labels resembling “unassimilated”, and “tailor-made legal guidelines” are then created particularly for them, with the intention to make them to depart the nation. In a video from 27 December 2023, Sellner himself doesn’t discuss people, however about teams. He talks about twelve million residents with a migrant background. Of those, he says within the video, “between 5 and 6 million” might doubtlessly meet the standards for “remigration”.
What connects Sellner’s “remigration” coverage with a historic re-evaluation of Nationwide Socialist crimes in Germany?
Sellner has stated [in a video on rumble.com] {that a} coverage of “remigration” would require a “completely different politics of reminiscence” and the renunciation of ‘nationwide masochism’, and that this might not be potential with out “the love of 1’s personal.” He additionally writes concerning the connection between this völkisch purpose and the remembrance of the crimes of Nationwide Socialism in his e-book, Regime Change von rechts, during which he describes the “important purpose of the Proper” as being to “protect our ethno-cultural identification” and provides that “historical past schooling geared in the direction of traumatisation and nationwide self-loathing” should cease.
What differentiates the AfD’s ‘remigration’ proposal from the CDU/CSU’s name for managed migration?
The all-important differentiator between the AfD and the CDU/CSU is völkisch ideology. The CDU’s candidate for Chancellor, Friedrich Merz, has greater than as soon as acknowledged that Germany is a “nation of immigration”, together with on Twitter [now X] on 11 April 2023. The CDU desires stricter immigration guidelines and is looking for sanctions in particular person circumstances. In contrast, Sellner’s ‘”emigration” idea shouldn’t be geared toward people, however at whole teams of individuals.
What’s the significance of the AfD’s inclusion of the time period “remigration” in its election manifesto?
At its occasion convention in Riesa, the AfD voted to incorporate the phrase “remigration” in its election manifesto. Alice Weidel stated at that convention, “If it should be referred to as ‘remigration’, then it should imply ‘remigration’”. It’s stunning to listen to her use the phrase […] as a result of, in line with the net platform Pioneer, in a background interview in March 2024 she stated, “I feel it is unwise to make use of the time period.” […] Now, although, she has made a U-turn and joined with the AfD in adopting it.
The occasion manifesto solely makes use of the time period in reference to the tightening of asylum and residence legal guidelines, and never (as Sellner does) to consult with a number of teams as a complete, together with residents with a migration background. However, it’s just about unimaginable to separate the concept of “remigration” from the charged ethno-nationalism of Sellner, AfD politicians resembling Björn Höcke, and others.
Justus von Daniels, Jean Peters, Anette Dowideit all contributed to this text.
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