German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier gives a speech on the anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989 at the Bellevue Palace in Berlin on November 9, 2025.
Maryam Majd / POOL / AFP
The federal president was trying to damage the AfD, but is likely to have bolstered the party’s support instead.
AfD officials have, of course, been up in arms about the German federal president’s use of the significant November 9th speech to accuse the ever-rising opposition of extremism, antisemitism, and of wanting to overthrow the democratic order. The party’s Bremen branch has, for example, berated Frank-Walter Steinmeier for his “political instrumentalisation of the office,” which is supposed to be impartial and to represent the “nation’s conscience” (yeah, right!).
But it has been impressive to see plenty of figures outside the party—including a good handful of its opponents—also come out against Steinmeier’s incendiary remarks.
Not least among these has been FDP (Free Democratic Party) politician Wolfgang Kubicki, who told broadcasters that the president’s allusions to alleged similarities between the AfD and the Nazis, no less, were not only “inappropriate,” but also “ahistorical” and an “outrage.”
.@KubickiWo zerlegt Steinmeiers spalterische Rede: Die AfD mit den Nazis und 1933 gleichzusetzen ist ahistorischer Wahnsinn und eine bodenlose Frechheit! Steinmeier verunglimpft damit auch knapp 30% der Wähler. Der Bundespräsident – der alle Deutschen einen sollte – hetzt gegen… pic.twitter.com/MHpmPRs7f2
Sahra Wagenknecht of the left-nationalist BSW also accused Steinmeier of “political stupidity,” although she did argue that “this is not abuse of office.” Wagenknecht said the ‘firewall’ policy preventing establishment cooperation with the AfD had done nothing to improve Germany’s political situation and has actually helped the party to grow.
That should have reached even the federal president.
Instead, he seems to believe that an outright ban is the only way forward.
Journalist Nena Brockhaus described this as “a slap in the face to every AfD voter,” but added that such divisive rhetoric will actually further help the opposition in the long run.
Instead of bringing people together, Steinmeier is banking on division. The speech was a Christmas present to the AfD, which can now once again assume the victim role.
❌ Die Rede von Bundespräsident Steinmeier ist ein Schlag ins Gesicht jedes AfD-Wählers.
Statt zusammenzuführen, setzt Steinmeier auf Spaltung. Die Rede war ein Weihnachtsgeschenk an die AfD, die sich jetzt wieder in die Opferrolle begeben kann.
Not that the president’s speech garnered no support. Green Party officials predictably hailed his comments as “absolutely right” because “there must be no cooperation with right-wing extremists under any circumstances!”
But on the whole, even mainstream figures appear to be getting their heads around the fact that more and more voters are putting their faith in the AfD, and that attempts to do the party down often have the opposite effect.
Michael Curzon is a news writer for europeanconservative.com based in England’s Midlands. He is also Editor of Bournbrook Magazine, which he founded in 2019, and previously wrote for London’s Express Online. His Twitter handle is @MichaelCurzon_.
