German Chancellor Olaf Scholz has harshly denounced plans by far-right extremists for the repatriation of immigrants, saying no one deserves to be judged on where they come from or the colour of their skin, writes German news agency DPA.
“Learning from history is not just lip service. Democrats must stand together,” the chancellor wrote on X, formerly Twitter, on Thursday, alluding to Nazi Germany’s genocidal pursuit of racial purity in the Holocaust.
“We will not allow anyone to differentiate the ‘we’ in our country based on whether someone has a history of immigration or not,” Scholz continued.
“We protect everyone – regardless of origin, skin colour or how uncomfortable someone is for fanatics with assimilation fantasies.”
Scholz’s remarks came in response to a report by the investigative outlet Correctiv, which detailed a recent meeting between members of the Alternative for Germany (AfD) party and a far-right group advocating for immigrant repatriation.
The report has caused an uproar in Germany, where there is mounting dread among mainstream political parties about the surge in public support for the AfD. The party is riding high in the polls of three former East German states that hold regional elections later this year.
According to Correctiv, AfD politicians took part in a meeting in Potsdam, outside of Berlin, in November during which Martin Sellner, the Austrian activist and the driving force behind the Identitarian movement – a far-right political group with an extremist background – presented his ideas about the repatriation of potentially millions of people with immigrant backgrounds.
He reportedly presented ideas on how foreigners could be pressured to leave Germany and how people with an immigrant background could be forced to assimilate, among other measures that have alarmed Germany’s political establishment.
Sellner confirmed to dpa that he presented ideas for what he described as “remigration.”
