The far-right Alternative für Deutschland positions itself as anti-elite; an alternative to Germany’s establishment parties. However, a strong culture of nepotism and cronyism has recently been exposed, potentially jeopardising the party’s chances of success as Germany enters a critical election period.
Under German law, politicians may not employ their own family members or partners at the expense of the taxpayer. However, there is a loophole – friends and family may still be employed by a different politician within the party.
‘Clan criminality’
The AfD have criticised this behaviour when undertaken by their political rivals. Former Economy Minister Robert Habeck (of the Greens) was found to have employed friends and family of his personnel in 2023, and the AfD were quick to condemn this as ‘nepotism’ and ‘clan criminality’.
Now the AfD have been exposed for doing precisely the same thing, party co-leader Alice Weidel has gone on the defensive, saying “it has become clear that the accusations from the media are indeed unfounded and completely exaggerated”.
Chancellor Friedrich Merz has since called out this hypocrisy, stating, “we must not only take a hard line against the AfD on the issues but also confront it as the party of supposed clean men and patriots”.
At the centre of the scandal is the state of Saxony-Anhalt, located in central-eastern Germany.
Ahead of state elections in September, an investigation by broadcaster ZDF exposed several instances of nepotism and ‘cross-employment’ within the AfD’s state association.
Highest levels
The father of lead candidate Ulrich Siegmund was employed in the office of Thomas Korell, a Bundestag member who also hired both parents of AfD state parliament member Matthias Büttner.
The scandal goes to the highest levels of leadership. In a post on X, party co-leader Tino Chrupalla confessed that he employs the wife of an AfD parliamentarian (though he stated that her employment predates her husband’s election by two years).
Despite the AfD’s attempts to portray itself as an anti-establishment alternative to the ‘Altparteien’ (‘old parties’), many of their politicians have traditional, well-connected backgrounds.
In its early years, it was even known as the ‘professor’s party’ due to its economic, Eurosceptic focus and highly-educated founding members.
Perhaps the most extreme example is the party’s Deputy Parliamentary Group Leader.
Beatrix von Storch belongs to the same male-line as King Charles, the royal houses of Denmark and Norway, and the deposed royal house of Greece.
Her full name and title is ‘Her Highness Duchess Beatrix Amelie Ehrengard Eilika of Oldenburg’.
Billionaire backing
One of the party’s most significant donors was the late billionaire August von Finck Jr, whose father, August von Finck Sr., was a prominent banker and Nazi party member who ruthlessly capitalised on the ‘Aryanisation’ of Jewish-owned companies.
Henning Conle, a billionaire property magnate based in the UK, anonymously donated €132,000 to Alice Weidel’s campaign funds leading up to the 2017 general elections. This is illegal under German law as donations over a certain figure must be declared, and the party were subsequently fined.
Right-wing fraternities
The networks within the German-speaking far-right goes even deeper than donors or nepotism. Often, these ties are formed at university. ‘Burschenschaften’ are fraternities or societies found at German and Austrian universities and several are known to foster a right-wing culture.
AfD politician Matthias Helferich is a former member of the Frankonia Burschenschaft at the University of Bonn.
According to reports from Der Spiegel, whilst there, he wrote messages to fellow fraternity ‘brothers’ referencing ‘racial studies literature’ and Nazi propaganda minister Joseph Goebbels.
The Austrian far-right party, Freiheitliche Partei Österreichs (FPÖ), is even more strongly affiliated with Burschenschaften. As of 2025, 39 FPÖ politicians had links to these fraternities, some of whom occupy positions at the highest levels of Austrian government.
FPÖ politicians Dominik Nepp and Maximilian Krauss were both members of the Aldania Burschenschaft in Vienna. Its website proclaims ‘when celebrating, we also indulge in excesses that are now frowned upon in society’.
Populist charade
This most recent scandal will surely damage the AfD’s self-constructed populist identity. However, nepotism is just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to the party’s connections to the upper echelons of German society.
From royal lineages to elite university fraternities, the AfD is demonstrably a product of the educated, wealthy and well-connected – a truth that is skirted around, or deliberately obscured, as they try to win over working- and middle-class voters.
