I was looking at moving to Germany soon, can anyone there tell me if it is just headed towards US-levels of fascism? I feel like a lot of the news articles I read say as much, but I don't unfortunately know if the sources are the equivalent of FOX News or what.
this post was submitted on 26 Jul 2025
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I don't think that will happen. We are watchful of everything working towards that direction.
And the racism is not nearly as open as in the US even in areas where the AfD is strong.
Thank you for the response, genuinely appreciated!
Does someone know what's the overall sentiment of the German far-right wing to the Russian invasion of Ukraine? Obviously the AfD is pro-Russia, and the far-right shares similar views on queer people - or "LGBT extremism" as the Russian state calls it - for example, but on the other hand I can also see them showing sympathy for Ukraine with controversial figures like Oleksandr Alfiorov as head of the Ukrainian Institute of National Memory.
The modern far-right is heavily Pro-Russia overall. It's the strongest in East Germany where there is also a lot of nostalgia for the GDR, both from the right and the left.
Add in some public AfD-figures making claims like "Hitler was a communist" and there is just infinite confusion and anyone ends up being free to believe whatever fits their view.
So you have far-right people opposing Ukraine because Ukraine had a Nazi-Battalion and you have far-right people claiming the Nazis were actually leftists. There's no logic to be found here, but it all boils down to them being fans of Russia and gobbling up whatever gets pushed in their Facebook/Instagram/Twitter-Feeds.
I found a (possibly outdated) interesting German analysis paper by the Amadeu Antonio Foundation from March 2022 on how right wing extremists and conspiracy ideologists reacted to the conflict.
I am not german so i don't know either, but Russia doesn't have enough influence to force people to believe their stories. I believe even people who agree with Putin from a political point of view understand his invasion wasn't called for. They know Zelensky isn't a nazi. Even if they buy the story of NATO having expanded too far east they are often not against being in NATO for example. It is interesting there seems to be a difference in how the party leaders treat Russia and how their voters view Russia.
What i think matters most is not what they think but rather how much they care. Their nationalism comes from a need to care for themselves first, it's a kind of egoism that i think is rooted in a falsely perceived threat (There are no houses/jobs, because foreigners took them. The taxes are too high because there are too many lazy people living off benefits. There is no good healthcare/education because CEO's earn too much)*. These threats they perceive are much bigger problems, so they can't afford to worry about that that war in Ukraine. They will say it's not really our business anyway, we shouldn't meddle with foreign affairs. Let the Russians deal with this.
* before i get dogpiled, i'm not saying that it isn't a problem if there is a lack of housing and jobs, there are high taxes and health care and education are unaffordable; my point is they see an enemy that cause these issues intentionally and they need to fight that enemy (foreigners/lazy people/CEO's).
European far-right are similar to republicans in Russia's eyes. We cannot know how much money and influence there is between Russia and them but it is clear that they are the side Russia supports. Obviously it is entire possible that a far-right party isn't financially or otherwise supported by Russia, but even if they are not at all, the party will have a similar views of the world.
they see an enemy that cause these issues intentionally
Expensive housing is caused by zoning laws. It is intentional, just not organised by foreigners and lazy people.
I am not german so i don’t know either, but Russia doesn’t have enough influence to force people to believe their stories.
There are enough right wing and conspiracy theories channels on social media that will spread their lies to the last boomer and Facebook moms. Russia doesn't need much to spread their ideas, just a few believable looking news sites run by them, and enough local influencers who share their stories in the German right wing bubbles to confirm what the people already believe.
In a somehow related news, Hungary Moves to Jail Its Own Citizen for Joining Ukraine’s Fight Against Russia
The Hungarian authorities have charged the man in absentia with “illegal recruitment by joining an armed organization outside the forces of an allied state for the purpose of engaging in armed conflict.”
This is what you get from the far-right (and the far-left) I guess.
Who is far-left in this case? Both Orban and AfD are right wing nuts...