AfD claims fact-checked, Volkswagen restructuring, and German political polling

Alternative for Germany (AfD) co-leader Tino Chrupalla made several false and unproven claims during his "summer interview" with the ARD public broadcaster.

DW Fact check took a closer look.

A 'completely normal summer'

Claim: "I didn't see this summer as being exceptionally different from other years."

Verdict: False

Chrupalla called it a "completely normal summer," adding, "Yes, there were dry periods, there were also long periods of rain."

The data suggests the opposite.

This has been an exceedingly warm summer in Germany. June and July were the hottest months on record in Western Europe, with an average temperature of 21.62 degrees Celsius (70.92 degrees Fahrenheit) during the two months, according to the EU's Copernicus climate monitoring program.

There have already been more heat-related deaths in the first seven months of this year than in any single year before, according to the Robert Koch Institute, a German public health agency.

And this summer's rainfall has been below average in nearly all of Germany, data from the German Weather Service (DWD) shows.

"Since 1882, the period from early November to late July has been drier in Germany on only two occasions," the DWD said.

Deportation math doesn't add up

Claim: "Last summer we had 1 million rejected asylum applications."

Chrupalla added, "We have 280,000 people in this country who don't even have a residence permit, who should be deported."

Verdict: False

Government data shows 930,395 rejected asylum-seekers were living in Germany as of December 2025. But that figure includes asylum decisions that can date back many years, reflecting people who acquired a right of residency through other means.

As for people subject to deportation, government data shows that 258,845 people were required to leave the country as of June 30, 2026. But nearly 200,000 of those people have had their deportations temporarily suspended for reasons such as family circumstances, illness, or missing documents.

Unresolved questions over AfD adviser's extremist past

Claim: "[Laurens Nothdurft] has clearly distanced himself from these organizations," Chrupalla said about the Heimattreue Deutsche Jugend, a youth neo-Nazi organization.

Verdict: Unproven

No such public statement could be found from Nothdurft — the legal adviser for the AfD's parliamentary group in Saxony-Anhalt — about his time in the HDJ.

He was elected the second federal leader of the extremist group in 1999. The neo-Nazi group was eventually banned in Germany in 2009.

The AfD restricts membership from those who were members of the HDJ, according to its federal statutes. There is an exception: "if they provide information about this in the application for membership and the responsible state executive board decides on admission with two-thirds of its members after a case-by-case examination."

It is unclear whether such an examination and vote took place for Nothdurft.

Tino Chrupalla, a co-leader of the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party, has raised concerns about mail-in ballots before state elections on September 6 in the eastern German state of Saxony-Anhalt.

In his "summer interview" with the ARD public broadcaster, Chrupalla said he learned about cases through conversations with caregivers at nursing homes that "the pen was, so to speak, guided" for older voters.

He said he was certain that cases like that existed, calling it "undisputed." For the AfD, he said, it was clear "that mail-in voting, which was introduced as an exceptional measure, should be abolished again."

Chrupalla also criticized the way postal voting documents were kept in town halls, where in some cases only the mayor has the key.

"They are not being observed. There are no cameras where the postal voting documents are stored. Hardly any verification takes place. It is not transparent," he said.

There are a number of safety protocols in place before postal ballots are tabulated in Germany.

Chrupalla also opposed the notion of a political firewall ("Brandmauer" in German) that has kept his party out of power even if it has won elections. Chrupalla added that after the election in Saxony-Anhalt, the AfD would "extend a hand to all parties."

Mainstream parties in the country have so far ruled out working with the far-right party based on the firewall policy.

Chrupalla also said he did not see this year's hot summer as an alarming consequence of climate change. "For me, it was a completely normal summer," he said. He said that the AfD has never denied climate change but, unlike the vast majority of scientists and climate researchers, that they "consider the human contribution to it to be very small."

Germany's official data shows that the country saw 14,000 deaths linked to heat waves through August 9.

Months after an ill-fated attempt to rescue a stranded whale nicknamed "Timmy" made headlines in Germany and beyond, the marine scientists who advocated to let it die in peace on the beach continue to face abuse and death threats.

"We have been subjected to a storm of abuse since around mid-March and continue to be so to this day," a spokesperson at the German Oceanographic Museum told Germany's DPA news agency.

The museum said it has received threats that it would be burned to the ground and messages hoping that the staff go to hell. One message the museum received read: "I'll tear you to pieces in public — that's not a threat, but a promise."

All the museum staff who were quoted in earlier media reports about Timmy have since applied to city authorities for a data access restriction to prevent their addresses and personal details from being disclosed.

"We were all afraid of being accosted in the street if people recognized us. We temporarily hid the 'Our Team' page on our website," said the spokesperson.

A police spokesperson told German mass-market daily Bild that "since April, a number of incidents relating to the Oceanographic Museum have emerged, including allegations of insult and threats that are being investigated."

Timmy was first spotted when it repeatedly became stuck in shallow waters off Germany's Baltic Sea coast. Initial attempts to free the whale were not successful. Experts said the whale was in poor health, would suffer from further rescue efforts and would likely not survive.

Contrary to this advice, the state environment minister in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, Till Backhaus, permitted a private rescue operation funded by two German millionaires. The mission saw the whale transported out to sea on a barge. Timmy's last sign of life was observed the following day, and two weeks later the whale's lifeless carcass washed ashore on the Danish island of Anholt. An autopsy subsequently confirmed Timmy was in fact female.

Alternative for Germany (AfD) co-leader Alice Weidel has predicted her party will take power in Saxony-Anhalt and eventually enter Germany's federal government, as the far-right party heads into key state elections with strong poll numbers.

"We will form the government in Saxony-Anhalt," Weidel said in a summer interview with the broadcaster ZDF on Sunday, adding that she believed the center-right Christian Democratic Union (CDU), would not win another federal election.

Weidel argued that the CDU's "firewall" against cooperation with the AfD was damaging the party. "We will also govern at the federal level," she said.

The AfD is currently leading some national polls. A Forschungsgruppe Wahlen survey put it at 27%, ahead of the CDU at 22%.

In Saxony-Anhalt, which votes on September 6, the AfD is polling above 40% and well ahead of its rivals.

Weidel called for a much tougher migration policy, arguing that illegal immigration was undermining domestic security. She said an AfD-led government would close Germany's borders and seek to withdraw the country from the euro common currency and the Schengen agreement.

Germans are almost evenly divided over whether they fear the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD), according to a new INSA poll. The survey found 49% said they were not afraid of the party, while 42% said they were.

53% said they considered the party far-right. 37% said they did not.

Several AfD state branches have been classified as confirmed right-wing extremist by Germany's domestic intelligence authorities. That includes Saxony-Anhalt, where the AfD is polling at 41% to 43% ahead of the September 6 state election.

The public is exactly divided on whether Germany should seek a constitutional ban on the party. Some 42% supported applying to the Federal Constitutional Court for a ban, while 42% opposed such a move.

Volkswagen Group chief Oliver Blume has warned employees that the coming weeks will be critical as the carmaker prepares sweeping cost cuts and a major restructuring.

"The next few weeks will be crucial: everyone must pull together," Blume told the Bild am Sonntag newspaper, describing the measures as "the largest transformation plan in the history of the Volkswagen Group."

Blume said the global car industry was facing a "massive crisis," with geopolitical tensions, trade barriers, regulation, weak markets and intense competition all putting pressure on manufacturers.

"The next few years will be decisive in determining who stays in the race and who comes out on top," he said.

Volkswagen is holding a series of extraordinary staff meetings across Germany for the rest of the month, with employee representatives demanding more detail on the planned savings.

Earlier this year, Blume said the group was developing a new "Vision 2030" strategy involving significantly tighter cost-cutting measures. That prompted fears within the company that as many as four plants and up to 50,000 additional jobs could be at risk.

Blume urged employees to support the restructuring "for the people, our company and Germany's competitiveness as a business location."

Most Germans expect Chancellor Friedrich Merz to be replaced before the next scheduled federal election in 2029, according to a YouGov poll.

The survey found 36% expect Merz to remain chancellor through 2026 but leave office before the 2029 election. 18% believe he will be replaced before the end of this year. 29% expect him to remain in office at least until the next scheduled election.

Taken together, 54% of respondents expect Merz to leave office before the current parliamentary term ends.

A large majority said Merz had failed to strengthen his authority despite personnel changes in the Cabinet, the Christian Democrat (CDU) parliamentary group and the party leadership before the summer break.

Some 36% said he had lost a great deal of authority within his party, while another 31% said he had lost some authority.

Asked who they considered better suited to serve as chancellor, 25% chose North Rhine-Westphalia state Premier Hendrik Wüst, a fellow member of Merz's CDU. Only 9% chose Merz, although a large majority of 66% said they did not know.