Ever since the federal elections of 2017, the far-right Alternative für Deutschland (AfD) has been represented in the Bundestag with 91 delegates, making it Germany’s biggest opposition party . Numerous controversies sparked by provocative utterances of its leaders have led to intense media attention. However, this public scrutiny has seemingly been ineffectual in preventing the party from successfully utilizing half-truths, disinformation and outright fake-news in order to mobilize members and, indeed, voters.

Susan Neiman, the Director of the Einstein Forum, will discuss the continued success of this populist movement with Franziska Schreiber, who publicly resigned from the AfD in 2017 in protest against the party’s shift to the right. Prior to leaving, she had been chairwomen of the party’s youth movement Junge Alternative in Saxony as well as a member of the AfD’s federal executive board. Since her departure, she has published a book on the inner workings of the AfD and continues to use public appearances to warn that the party and its leaders are more dangerous today than ever before.