In Germany it has been bitterly cold in the past few days.

But even subzero temperatures did not stop hundreds of thousands from marching through the city centers: from Flensburg to Rosenheim, from Cologne to Dresden, citizens demonstrated everywhere in Germany - for the preservation of liberal democracy and against sliding into inhumane conditions.

The mass protest was triggered by the expulsion plans that became public and were discussed at a secret meeting of right-wing extremists in Potsdam.

Millions of people should therefore be deported: foreigners, but also Germans who, from the racists' point of view, are not German enough.

This revelation seems to have made it clear to large parts of the German population what a radical right-wing turnaround in Berlin could mean.

The number and size of the demonstrations appear to have taken the relevant “alternative media” by surprise.

Those platforms that otherwise claim that reputable media are hiding inconvenient news are largely ignoring the protests.

Many right-wing strategists, even in distant Vienna, immediately suspected that the exposed conference in a villa near Wannsee had the potential to have a negative impact on their own political agenda.

The discreet meeting also sheds light on the way the right-wing extremist scenes maintain contact in Germany and Austria.

This folkish purity fantasy was presented by the Viennese Martin Sellner, and a doctor who had traveled from Carinthia was sitting in the audience.

Sellner is a co-founder of the right-wing extremist “Identitarian Movement” and is considered prominent in the brownish milieu.

Even as a young man, he stuck swastikas on a synagogue and was part of the entourage of the notorious neo-Nazi leader Gottfried Küssel.

Back in the 1980s, he organized “military sports exercises” in which Heinz-Christian Strache also took part.

After his rise to the position of FPÖ leader, Strache was reluctantly reminded that he had been in the tough scene for years.

But both Strache and other FPÖ cadres diligently maintained contacts in Germany, and the AfD, in turn, also oriented itself towards the FPÖ in its initial phase: their party would be "powdered with the bag" if it "did not want to benefit from the FPÖ's experiences." said the then AfD leader Frauke Petry to the “Standard” in 2016.

When Herbert Kickl took over the party leadership, the FPÖ increasingly opened up to extremists. Kickl praised Sellner's "Identitarian" project as a "project worth supporting," and anti-Semitic innuendos are no longer frowned upon in the FPÖ.

Kickl himself is demonstratively seeking solidarity with the AfD.

When Alice Weidel visits Vienna, the many similarities are highlighted.

Now the AfD leader is even bringing up a referendum on Germany leaving the EU - an idea that the FPÖ had already tried out for its Austrian clientele.

The AfD and FPÖ are largely in agreement, and they are increasingly radicalizing together.

With the expulsion term “remigration,” both parties even use the clinically clean-sounding key term with which the right-wing extremist Martin Sellner describes his deportation intentions.

The AfD and FPÖ are increasingly borrowing from the language of the National Socialist dictatorship.

Social media moment of the week:

After his candidacy in the federal presidential election, rock musician and doctor Dominik Wlazny is ready for the next step.

With his beer party, which was once founded as a fun project, he wants to run in the upcoming National Council election - if enough people become paying members.

The daily press reverses the proportions: Wlazny's success could be diminished by SPÖ leader Andreas Babler, the medium teases.

Stories we recommend to you today:

  • Portrait of NEOS boss Beate Meinl-Reisinger: Admired by many, chosen by few 

  • Comment on Chancellor Karl Nehammer's tax plans: Promise with a big catch 

  • Podcast Inside Austria: The right-wing extremist influencer Martin S.

  • Interview with Lena Schilling: Why the climate activist is running for the European Parliament

  • Train traffic between Bavaria and Tyrol: Strong dialect almost leads to misfortune

Get through the week safely!

Warm greetings from Vienna

Yours, Oliver Das Gupta

And once again a note on our own behalf: You can order this briefing as a newsletter in your email inbox here.