Germany’s federal elections are coming up on 23 February 2025, meaning that all major parties are ramping up their campaign efforts to secure a majority in parliament. One of these parties is AfD (Alternative für Deutschland, which translates to Alternative for Germany). It is a far-right, and in parts, extremist political group, eager to shake up German politics with its plans for an exit from the European Union, a complete border shutdown, and mass deportation to stop the “invasion of foreigners.” So perhaps it shouldn’t be surprising to anyone that AfD has recently been handing out Nazi-reminiscent flyers designed to resemble one-way plane tickets for forced deportations. And of course, the provocant pieces of paper have been primarily mailed to—drumroll please—immigrants.

Although it was not immediately clear if immigrants had been directly targeted, many of them living in the southwestern city of Karlsruhe found the controversial flyers in their letterboxes.

“In your home country, it’s also nice,” the flyers read. The fake departure date was set for 23 February, the day of Germany’s national election.

Although all other parties have decidedly ruled out any type of alliance or cooperation with AfD, the far-right group is currently polling the second highest, after the centre-right party CDU/CSU (Christian Democratic Union/Christian Social Union).

Karlsruhe’s criminal police said in a statement that it had opened an investigation into “persons unknown on suspicion of incitement of racial hatred.”

Likewise, local politicians such as Green party member Beate Hoeft from Ettlingen, started to express their outrage at the racial attack these flyers signified.

“People from a migrant background in the Karlsruhe region found this in their letterboxes,” Hoeft wrote on Instagram. She added the hashtags #NoAfD, #ProtectDemocracy, and #BewareTheBeginnings. Hoeft also mentioned that she is in contact with one of the affected families.

 

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Pictures of the flyers quickly went viral on social media, leading many netizens to condemn the party for “terrorising” migrants, spreading “xenophobic propaganda,” and potentially inciting violence in the country.

Ladet einer dieser #Abschiebeticket in meinen #Briefkasten– #Strafanzeige ist sicher❗️ pic.twitter.com/RvpmyzwU01

— ERDEM (@AnwaltErdem) January 14, 2025

Das „Abschiebeticket“ der AfD knüpft übrigens an den „Freifahrtschein“ der NSDAP an. Die gleiche Botschaft, die gleiche Drohkulisse.

Die AfD verteilte selbsterstellte „Abschiebetickets“. Zahlreiche Bürger mit Migrationshintergrund erhielten den Wahlkampf-Flyer, der mit… pic.twitter.com/Jn5grOwcZW

— Tarek Baé (@Tarek_Bae) January 14, 2025

Many keen-eyed users also started to liken the flyers to the fake plane tickets that were distributed by the neo-Nazi National Democratic Party of Germany (NPD) in 2013 in a bid to discourage immigrant candidates from standing for parliament. In fact, both campaigns are shockingly close to chilling appeals to Jews to leave Germany during the Nazi era. Back then, Adolf Hitler’s party the NSDAP (National Socialist German Workers’ Party) used posters and pamphlets stating “free tickets to Jerusalem… never to return” with a design that also mimicked real travel documents.

The flyers come on the heels of the AfD’s chancellor candidate Alice Weidel openly embracing the highly controversial term “remigration” at the party’s conference in the eastern town of Riesa over the weekend. The term is widely understood to mean the mass deportation of people with a migrant background.

Until now, Weidel has tried to distance herself from the term and the more extremist parts of her party, since the matter sparked national protests in 2024, after it was revealed that a senior AfD party member had met with controversial Austrian far-right activist Martin Sellner to discuss “remigrating” foreigners with residency rights and “non-assimilated” citizens.

However, her sudden embrace of the term as well as the party’s provocative marketing campaign signifies a disturbing shift in the political landscape. The boost in polling numbers suggests a growing acceptance of rhetoric and policies that were once considered fringe in Germany, emboldening the party to openly embrace the extreme.