The far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party presented a bill to the German parliament on Friday calling for a change to the paragraph dealing with "incitement to hatred" in Germany's Criminal Code.

"The AfD wants just one thing," said the AfD's Jens Maier, presenting the bill to the parliament. "Namely that Germans are also protected from hate speech and mockery. Our draft bill is supposed to close a gap in the criminal code."

Paragraph 130 of Germany's Criminal Code says that a maximum three-year prison sentence — or, as in most cases, a fine — can await anyone "whosoever, in a manner capable of disturbing the public peace incites hatred against a national, racial, religious group or a group defined by their ethnic origins, against segments of the population or individuals because of their belonging to one of the aforementioned groups or segments of the population or calls for violent or arbitrary measures against them."

Read more: AfD slammed in Bundestag debate on the future of Deutsche Welle

Maier went on to claim that the German government does "nothing, or next to nothing" to protect the German population from racism, and that German courts could apply the paragraph to hate speech against Germans if they wanted to, "but they don't do it."

Several AfD politicians, including Björn Höcke, have faced charges under German hate-speech laws

Motion rejected

The legal argument against this, as interpreted by German courts, has usually been that the law is meant to protect minorities, and since "Germans" refers to the entire German population, it cannot be considered a minority. "This is about protecting Germans in their own country; they want to be protected just as much as Ms. Merkel's guests," Maier added, referring to people who sought asylum under Merkel's administration.

The other political parties, including Merkel's conservative Christian Democratic Union (CDU), all opposed the AfD's proposal with more or less vehemence. One CDU member, Ingmar Jung, said there was "not one single piece of evidence" that German courts discriminated against Germans when applying the paragraph.

Read more: What is Germany's constitution, the Basic Law?

Jürgen Martens, of the neo-liberal Free Democratic Party, accused the AfD of invoking a "chimera" to make themselves look like "victims" again. "Of course Paragraph 130 protects Germans too," he added, before arguing that the bill, mixing as it does definitions of entire populations and "majorities" and "significant majorities," was "meaningless verbiage."

The friendly faces of the AfD? Germany's new parliamentary representatives Siegbert Droese The head of the AfD in Leipzig was the center of controversy in 2016 when newspapers reported that a car in his motor pool had the license plate: "AH 1818." "AH" are the initials of Adolf Hitler. 1 and 8, the first and eighth letters of the alphabet, are considered a code for Adolf Hitler among neo-Nazi groups.

The friendly faces of the AfD? Germany's new parliamentary representatives Sebastian Münzenmaier As the AfD's lead candidate in Rhineland-Palatinate, the 28-year-old Münzenmaier cruised to a seat in the Bundestag. Münzenmaier made headlines in October when he was convicted of being an accessory to assault in a case of football hooliganism. But because that's considered a minor offense, he is able to exercise his mandate.

The friendly faces of the AfD? Germany's new parliamentary representatives Albrecht Glaser The 75-year-old former CDU man is the AfD's choice for Bundestag vice-president, but members of the other parties say they won't approve his candidacy. Glaser once opined that Muslims shouldn't enjoy freedom of religion because Islam is a political ideology. Critics reject that view as unconstitutional.

The friendly faces of the AfD? Germany's new parliamentary representatives Markus Frohnmaier Frohnmaier is the chair of the party's youth organization, Junge Alternative. The 28-year-old wrote in August 2016 on Facebook that "our generation will suffer the most" from Merkel's decision to "flood this country with the shoddy proletariat from Africa and the Orient."

The friendly faces of the AfD? Germany's new parliamentary representatives Martin Reichardt The former soldier from Lower Saxony once told a journalist that he had no problem with "Germany for the Germans," a phrase that is often used by neo-Nazi groups. He has also collectively described the Green Party and The Left party as "constitutional enemy No. 1."

The friendly faces of the AfD? Germany's new parliamentary representatives Wilhelm von Gottberg The 77-year-old from Brandenburg was vice president of the Federation of Expellees (BdV) until 2012. He wrote in the newspaper "Ostpreussenblatt" in 2001 that he agreed with the statement that the Holocaust was a "myth" and an "effective instrument to criminalize the Germans and their history."

The friendly faces of the AfD? Germany's new parliamentary representatives Jens Maier In January, the Dresden judge railed against the "creation of mixed nationalities" that are "destroying national identity." He has also called for an end to Germany's "culture of guilt" surrounding the country's actions in the Second World War.

The friendly faces of the AfD? Germany's new parliamentary representatives Beatrix von Storch The AfD's vice-chair is an MP in the European parliament and is known for her hardline conservative views. In 2016, she replied affirmatively to a Facebook user who had asked her whether armed force should be used to stop women with children from illegally entering Germany. She later apologized for the comment.

The friendly faces of the AfD? Germany's new parliamentary representatives Alexander Gauland One of the AfD's top candidates, Gauland was widely criticized after suggesting that the German government's commissioner for integration, Aydan Özoguz, should be "disposed of" in Turkey because she had said that there was no specifically German culture beyond the German language.

The friendly faces of the AfD? Germany's new parliamentary representatives Alice Weidel The 38-year-old economist was the AfD's other top candidate. Despite living in Switzerland, Weidel ran for the Baden-Württemberg constituency of Bodensee. She drew criticism for describing Germany's integration commissioner Aydan Özoguz, who has Turkish roots, as a "stain" and a "disgrace." In a contested email attributed to Weidel, she called Angela Merkel's government "pigs" and "puppets."

The friendly faces of the AfD? Germany's new parliamentary representatives Frauke Petry For a long time Frauke Petry was the face of the AfD, and she's one of the more recognizable figures in the Bundestag. But she's no longer a member of the right-wing populist party. Petry quit shortly after the election after falling out with other leaders. Because she won her voting district outright, she still gets a Bundestag mandate, where she sits as an independent. Author: Alex Pearson



Who is German?

Martina Renner, of the socialist Left party, pointed to various speeches by AfD members, including Maier himself, calling for Paragraph 130 to be abolished.

"Stop lying, you want to abolish Paragraph 130," she said. "All you did today was eat humble pie."

"And why do you want to abolish it? Because if it didn't exist, you could continue your verbal attacks on the disabled, refugees, Jews, Muslims, and leftists, unhindered," she added, before arguing that the paragraph had been introduced to counter a wave of anti-Semitism in Germany in the 1950s.

"You love fear, and can't get enough of it," she said.

Read more: Munich court to try Facebook's Zuckerberg for inciting hatred

Sarah Ryglewski, of the Social Democratic Party (SPD), was not the only Bundestag member in the debate to wonder who exactly would be defined as German under the AfD's proposal, given that many, including herself, had roots in other countries. She pointed out that the language reflected the AfD's racially charged worldview.

Maier used to be a civil court judge and has himself been investigated for hate speech when he described Noah Becker, son of the tennis star Boris Becker, as a "half-negro" in a tweet. He later claimed the tweet had been sent by an employee in his office.

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