The AfD\u2019s call to increase the birth rate as an instrument of ethnic-nationalist ideology - This is how the AfD still ticks. The Alternative for Germany (AfD) has repeatedly aligned itself with nationalist and ethnocentric themes in its political orientation. One particularly controversial point is the repeated demand that German women should have more children to preserve \u201cGerman identity.\u201d This demand is not only closely tied to problematic ethnonationalist thinking, but it also raises fundamental ethical and sociopolitical concerns. The following will examine the background, the key figures, and the implications of this rhetoric.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Origin of the term
The term originally emerged in feminist and sociological contexts to highlight structural problems that prevent women from having children, such as a lack of childcare, precarious employment, or insufficient gender equality. Later, it was adopted by conservative and right-wing populist actors and linked to nationalist demands.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Historical and ideological roots
The demand for an increased birth rate among a specific population group has a long history and is deeply rooted in nationalist ideologies. During the Nazi era, for example, promoting childbirth was propagated as a means to strengthen the \u201cbody of the people.\u201d The AfD, consciously or unconsciously, draws on these ideologies when it links the narrative of a \u201cdemographic decline\u201d to the loss of German identity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The specter of \u201cpopulation shrinkage\u201d - The National Socialists spread fear of a \u201cnational death\u201d due to falling birth rates. This idea was closely tied to the notion of a \u201cpopulation struggle\u201d against supposedly \u201cforeign races.\u201d Joseph Goebbels, Minister of Propaganda, warned of the \u201csoftening\u201d of German society if women neglected their \u201cnatural duty\u201d as mothers. This pressure on women to dedicate their reproductive capacity to the nation was staged as a patriotic duty.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Central figures and quotations
Bj\u00f6rn H\u00f6cke, the AfD parliamentary leader in Thuringia, is particularly prominent in making such statements. In his book \u201cYou Can\u2019t Step Into the Same River Twice\u201d and in public speeches, he calls for a \u201cdemographic turnaround.\u201d In a speech in Dresden, he said, \u201cWe must encourage the German woman to have more children again, to save our people from extinction.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Similarly, Alice Weidel, co-leader of the AfD parliamentary group in the Bundestag, said during a debate, \u201cGermany needs more family-friendly policies that ensure German families have more children again.\u201d The phrasing \u201cGerman families\u201d is deliberately chosen to distinguish between autochthonous Germans and other population groups.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Ethnonationalist ideology
The demand for a higher birth rate among German women is frequently tied to the \u201cpopulation replacement\u201d theory, which is also propagated by the AfD. This conspiracy theory suggests that migrants are deliberately being brought in to displace the native population. H\u00f6cke referred to this as a \u201clife-threatening shrinking of the German people.\u201d Women\u2019s policy under the Nazi regime: childbirth as duty<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In the Third Reich, women\u2019s reproductive capacity was politicized and instrumentalized. National Socialist ideology viewed women primarily as mothers of the \u201cAryan national body.\u201d Adolf Hitler stated in \u201cMein Kampf\u201d (1925) that the survival of the people must be secured through the birth rate. With the introduction of the Mother\u2019s Cross (1938), the number of children was directly rewarded: women with four, six, or eight children received state honors as a \u201cservice to the fatherland.\u201d Propagandistic slogans such as \u201cChildren not Indians\u201d (similar to today\u2019s rhetoric) underscored the racist and ethnic-nationalist orientation of this policy. The goal was to increase the \u201cAryan race\u201d in number while \u201clife unworthy of life\u201d was reduced through forced sterilizations and extermination programs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Societal criticism
The AfD\u2019s call has met with broad criticism, both in academia and in society. Critics point out that such statements reduce women to their role as childbearers and violate fundamental principles of equality. Moreover, the demand is interpreted as an expression of biopolitics that seeks to govern population policy along ethnic lines. Demographer Reiner Klingholz emphasized, \u201cGermany\u2019s birth rate is not the problem. Rather, we must ask how we can shape migration and integration to meet the challenges of demographic change.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Political instrumentalization
The AfD\u2019s rhetoric aims to stoke fear of losing national identity. By portraying demography as the central issue, it deflects from other challenges and creates a narrative that frames migrants as a threat. At the same time, women are politically instrumentalized to advance ethnonationalist ideals. The AfD\u2019s demand that German women should have more children is an expression of ethnic-nationalist thinking and nationalist ideology. It reduces women to their role as bearers of children and ignores the complexity of demographic and societal realities. Instead of offering constructive solutions to challenges such as migration, integration, and social justice, the AfD spreads fear and relies on discriminatory narratives. The societal and political debate must aim to critically examine such ideologies and defend democratic values.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Under the Nazi regime, women were reduced to their role as mothers, expected to give children to the \u201cF\u00fchrer and fatherland.\u201d Employment bans for married women and campaigns like \u201cThe German Woman and Her Living Space is the Family\u201d reinforced this. The AfD strikes the same chord when, in its family policy platform, it calls for women to be steered more strongly toward family work and for their employment to be limited in favor of the \u201ctraditional mother role.\u201d That must be opposed with all our might.<\/p>\n
Die Aufforderung der AfD zur Steigerung der Geburtenrate als Instrument des v\u00f6lkischen Denkens – So tickt die AFD auch weiterhin. Die Alternative f\u00fcr Deutschland (AfD) hat sich in ihrer politischen Ausrichtung immer wieder auf nationalistische und v\u00f6lkische Themen berufen. Ein besonders kontroverser Punkt ist die wiederholte Forderung, dass deutsche Frauen mehr Kinder bekommen sollten, um […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":3561,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"iawp_total_views":2,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[33,40],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3560","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-afd-no-thanks","category-history-x"],"yoast_head":"\n