Far-right leanings characterize the Brandenburg AfD party.
The Brandenburg Office for the Protection of the Constitution (CPO) has officially classified the Brandenburg branch of the Alternative for Germany (AfD) as a confirmed right-wing extremist organization. This decision, made public in mid-August 2025, is based on a detailed 140-page report that documents the party's xenophobic, racist, and anti-democratic positions.
The report outlines a radicalization process of the AfD that leads the CPO to conclude that there are no longer any doubts about the extremist orientation of the entire state association. The classification allows for enhanced intelligence investigation and forms a basis for potential future measures, including a possible ban, although a ban is not imminent according to officials.
Notably, this classification applies specifically to the Brandenburg AfD branch as part of a wider pattern; other regional branches in Saxony, Saxony-Anhalt, and Thuringia have been similarly classified as extremist by their respective state offices. The federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution has also classified the AfD nationwide as a "confirmed right-wing extremist endeavor".
One reason for the CPO's assessment is the repeated statements by representatives of the AfD that contradict the human dignity anchored in the Basic Law. For instance, Hans-Christoph Berndt, chairman of the state parliament faction, said at a rally in Bitterfeld in August 2023: "A people is not the same as someone who lives in a region and is a citizen of a country." Other party members have been found to speak derogatorily of "pass Germans."
Since its classification as a suspected right-wing extremist case in 2020, the Brandenburg AfD has continued and significantly intensified its anti-constitutional efforts, according to the report. The party is also accused of networking with other right-wing extremist organizations, including the Cottbus association "Future Homeland" and the dissolved "Institute for State Policy".
The collection of quotes in the chapter "Violations of human dignity" covers 36 pages of the overall 142-page note. The report from the CPO contains numerous evidence of the AfD's networking with right-wing extremist organizations and their efforts to "abolish the respect for human dignity for certain groups and minorities", as previously stated.
The AfD Brandenburg will comment on the report following the press conference of Interior Minister Wilke and the head of the Brandenburg Verfassungsschutz on Thursday. The "note" report of the CPO was preemptively published by the right-wing conservative online medium "Nius" before the scheduled press conference.
[1] https://www.spiegel.de/politik/deutschland/afd-bundesweit-als-rechts-extremist-bewertet-a-129521795.html [2] https://www.tagesspiegel.de/politik/afd-brandenburg-als-rechts-extremist-bewertet-verfassungsschutz-note-veroffentlicht/27658614.html [3] https://www.welt.de/politik/deutschland/article205186484/Verfassungsschutz-Brandenburg-AfD-als-rechts-extremist-bewertet.html [4] https://www.sueddeutsche.de/politik/afd-verfassungsschutz-brandenburg-afd-als-rechts-extremist-bewertet-1.5968511
- The classification of the Brandenburg AfD as a confirmed right-wing extremist organization by the Brandenburg Office for the Protection of the Constitution (CPO) has significant implications for policy-and-legislation and politics, as it allows for enhanced investigation and potentially future measures, including a possible ban.
- The CPO's report on the AfD highlights the organization's alignment with war-and-conflicts and crime-and-justice issues, citing numerous instances of the party's xenophobic, racist, and anti-democratic positions that violate human dignity.
- As general-news reports the classification of the Brandenburg AfD, it's important to acknowledge that this decision is part of a wider pattern, with regional branches in Saxony, Saxony-Anhalt, Thuringia, and nationwide AfD also classified as extremist by their respective state offices and the federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution.
