The far-right AfD just won big in Germany but most Indian migrants think they’re safe. Are they?

On September 6, the far-right Alternative for Germany or AfD won a state election in Saxony-Anhalt with 44.5% of the vote, more than double the share it had polled five years ago.

This is the party’s best result in any German state, and it puts a party built on anti-immigrant politics closer to power than any far-right force has been in Germany since the Nazi era.

Other German states vote later this year, and many expect the AfD to do well there too.

For a significant section of the Indian migrants in Germany, this news arrives with a strange kind of comfort. In discussions with Indian IT professionals, students and job seekers in Berlin, Munich and Frankfurt, a common line comes up: the AfD is a problem for Muslims, not for us.

Some go further and admit a quiet sympathy for the party’s position against Islam, describing it as a shared concern rather than a threat. This feeling deserves a closer look, because the comfort it offers may not be real.

What is the AfD and why does its rise matter?

The AfD was founded in 2013 as a party that opposed the common euro currency. It has since become Germany’s main far-right force, built around white supremacy and opposition to immigration,...

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