The much-touted media hit piece that propelled a wave of anti-AfD protests in Germany— including calls for the party itself to be banned—has come under fire this week as one of its lead journalists described heavy exaggeration in the German press.
Anette Dowideit, the deputy editor of the left-wing Correctiv media outlet, in an interview on national TV on Sunday evening, stated that, contrary to media coverage, there was no direct talk of mass deportations—’remigration’— in a meeting between nationalist migration-critical Alternative für Deutschland (AfD) party and key figures on the radical right.
This raises serious questions about the credibility of the reporting, especially given its role in prompting protests and calls for political repression.
Correctiv, a partly Soros-funded state-affiliated investigative website that specialises in undercover work, made explosive revelations of top-level liaisons between the AfD and members of the European ‘ethnocultural transnational’ Identitarian Movement—joined by a small number of officials from the centre right CDU—earlier this month, alleging the existence of an intricate right-wing plot to deport millions of non-German migrants, including those with citizenship.
The media-dubbed “Potsdam Meeting” drew instant comparisons to the Nazi-era Wannsee Conference—comparisons explicitly made in the Correctiv article—and resulted in hundreds of thousands taking to the streets around Germany in a coordinated effort to put pressure on the ruling green-left coalition to ban the politically insurgent AfD.
Now the details of this alleged plot are coming under scrutiny, with Dowideit herself claiming that the German press “misinterpreted” major aspects of Correctiv’s reporting—including any mention of deportations.
When criticised by a freelance journalist for calling AfD “Nazis,” Dowideit responded, “But we didn’t write that, right?”—a somewhat disingenuous response, given that a section in the Correctiv article was introduced with the heading “A Nazi Utopia.”
Dowideit went on to contradict herself by saying that Correctiv’s article did not draw comparison between the Potsdam Meeting and the Wannsee Conference.
The article, however, says, “[Austrian Identitarian movement leader Martin] Sellner’s concept is eerily reminiscent of the Nazi’s 1940 plan to deport four million Jews to the island of Madagascar. It is unclear whether Sellner had this historical parallel in mind when devising his plan. It may also be mere coincidence that the organisers of the event chose a location less than 8 kilometres away from the villa where the Wannsee Conference took place – the meeting where the Nazis coordinated the systematic extermination of the Jews.”
Despite the serious questions raised about its claims, Correctiv’s report has had a profound effect on domestic German politics, as federal authorities weigh up the potential of banning Austrian-born nationalist leader Martin Sellner from entry into the country.
Sellner, the leader of the Austrian branch of the Identitarian movement is alleged to have theorised during the Potsdam event on the potential of creating a North African enclave to facilitate the removal of millions of non-European migrants. The meeting is being cited by German media as an example of inroads the radical right is making with the political establishment.
Both the AfD and Sellner himself have publicly disputed the undercover work by Correctiv, saying that his words had been taken out of context and that anything he suggested had been within the letter of the law.
Among the suggestions reportedly made at the meeting was the appointment of former German intelligence chief Hans-Georg Maaße to lead up a committee on mass deportations, with authorities making the embarrassing admission that they had no forewarning of the event in statements to the German Bundestag.
The past year has seen an unparalleled rise in electoral support for the AfD, despite incessant state harassment, as the party could potentially take charge of its first state legislature under nationalist firebrand Björn Höcke in the eastern Thuringia region.
Correctiv’s undercover story has also had an international impact. Rassemblement National parliamentary leader Marine Le Pen attempted to distance herself from the AfD remigration stance amid claims of inter-group strain in the nationalist Identity and Democracy (ID) group in the European Parliament.
Originally founded as a market-liberal response to the euro zone crisis in 2013, the AfD has veered in a more nationalist direction in recent years, unnerving the German establishment as the country stumbles through simultaneous energy, asylum, and agrarian crises.
