Germany's AfD sparks outrage by calling disabled children 'burdens' in schools
The far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) has faced sharp criticism over its stance on disability rights. Recent comments by party leader Björn Höcke, who described children with disabilities as 'burdens' in mainstream schools, have drawn comparisons to Nazi-era policies. Experts warn that the AfD’s rhetoric and policies increasingly echo historical atrocities against disabled people. The AfD’s position on disability rights has come under scrutiny after Höcke argued that students with disabilities should not attend regular schools. His language mirrors Nazi terminology, which labelled disabled individuals as ballast existences—a term used to justify mass killings. Between 1933 and 1945, the Nazi regime murdered around 70,000 disabled people and forcibly sterilised up to 400,000.
The party’s 2018 parliamentary inquiry raised further alarm when it questioned how many Germans had 'severe disabilities' and whether disabilities stemmed from 'marriage within the family.' Such queries recalled Nazi-era eugenics programs. In Saxony-Anhalt, the AfD’s governing programme explicitly vowed to 'immediately end the inclusion experiment,' targeting policies that integrate disabled students into mainstream education. The German Institute for Human Rights has labelled the AfD a 'serious danger,' noting that the party systematically devalues disabled people as part of its ideology. While AfD officials often present a moderate image in public, their internal policies reveal a push to rehabilitate Nazi-era concepts of a 'healthy national body.' The institute’s report concludes that the dehumanisation of disabled individuals has become a fixed part of the party’s agenda.
The AfD’s rhetoric and policy proposals on disability rights align with historical Nazi ideology. By framing disabled people as burdens and attacking inclusion efforts, the party has drawn condemnation from human rights organisations. Observers warn that its growing radicalisation risks normalising discriminatory practices long considered abhorrent in post-war Germany.
Read also:
- American teenagers taking up farming roles previously filled by immigrants, a concept revisited from 1965's labor market shift.
- Weekly affairs in the German Federal Parliament (Bundestag)
- Landslide claims seven lives, injures six individuals while they work to restore a water channel in the northern region of Pakistan
- Escalating conflict in Sudan has prompted the United Nations to announce a critical gender crisis, highlighting the disproportionate impact of the ongoing violence on women and girls.
