The far-right party AfD that wants to stop German support for Ukraine has surged in the polls before the German election. At the same time false stories about politicians have spread on social media:
- Has Germany signed a migration agreement to bring 1.9 million Kenyans to Germany ?
- Did Annalena Baerbock have an affair with a gigolo ?
- Is Marcus Faber a Russian agent ?
Correctiv.org claims that Russian troll factories are behind these and many more sensational, but false stories that are spread from 100 false webpages.
InfoMirgants cites AfD leader Weidel aligning with the Great replacement conspiracy theory, claiming white Europeans are being replaced with migrants, in particular, with Muslims. According to InfoMigrants AfD wants to counrter this alledged development by Remigration’ – the expulsion of non-ethnically European immigrants to their country of origin, seen as necessary to combat ‘replacement’.
AfD has been selecting stories isolated cases of violent murders committed by immigrants and refugees in their propaganda. This cherry picking is disinformation since the selection is unrepresentative. Violent crime is also to be found in every large group of the population and in every social layer. Including the AfD. Their leader Weidel has falsely claimed that “…We have exploding crime figures, foreigner criminality (and) migrant violence, because we have open borders…” “… Afghans are the people with the highest crime rate …”, as cited by Info Migrants.
It is important to balance the strong emotions a story of violent crime trigger in us, by trying to see the bigger picture. We have to see the massive majority of peaceful and well integrated immigrants and refugees that goes to work at 6 o’clock every morning, although their stories are less dramatic.
The German Bundeskriminalamt states that while the crime rate among non-German citizens is higher, it is not significantly so. Crime can be attributed to various psychological and social factors, such as the overrepresentation of young men among refugees and immigrants, the living conditions in reception centres, economic insecurity, and experiences of violence. Additionally, most violent crimes committed by this group are directed against other immigrants and refugees, says Bundeskriminalamt according to InfoMigrants.