Mostly false: Without the dissenting votes of the AfD, a vaccine mandate would have been introduced in Germany

On April 07th 2022, German right-wing populist party Alternative für Deutschland (AfD) politician Alice Weidel claimed on Twitter that the vaccine mandate in Germany only failed because of the dissenting votes of her party. She refers to the voting of the deputies in the Bundestag earlier that day. According to Weidel, only 40 votes more…

Mostly true: Jews are feeling increasingly insecure due to Covid-19

Pincheas Goldschmidt, the president of the Conference of the European Rabbis, claims that “Jews are feeling increasingly insecure. Corona has worsened the whole situation and the inhibitions are getting lower (…).” Is Goldschmidt’s concern reasonable? Partly, yes.  On 14 February 2022, the German news website tagesschau.de published an article on the “New danger of old…

Mostly False: “German taxpayers have the highest tax and contribution burden in the world”

After the German government decided in April to provide one billion euros in military aid to Ukraine, critical voices were raised, especially from the opposition. On April 16, 2022 the deputy federal spokesperson of the right-wing party “Alternative für Deutschland” (AfD) Georg Pazderski wrote on Twitter: “It is not Scholz who is providing more than…

False: „Germany will never fulfill its energy requirements with only wind energy and solar power.“

On March 26th 2022, Stephan Brandner, Deputy Federal Spokesperson of the right-wing party Alternative für Deutschland (AfD), posted a press release on Instagram in which he claims that Germany will never fulfill its energy demand with only wind energy and solar power. Different studies have proven that this statement is false. In the past the…

Mostly true: Less educated people are more likely to get depressed

The German TV-Show „Hischhausens Sprechstunde“ explains in a short film during the show (beginning at 28:30 minutes) how and why someone is developing a depression. One reason, among others, being a low education. Causes and concomitant effects are difficult to separate, which is why the general scientific consensus is that social status, and thus education,…

Mostly true: E-vehicles are more efficient than combustion engines

The effects of climate change are becoming increasingly noticeable. In this context, the e-vehicle is gaining more and more popularity in Germany – many people expect it to have a better climate footprint than conventional combustion engines. This thinking is promoted by statements like this: “E-vehicles are three times more efficient than combustion engines”. This…

fact checking

Mostly false: “Postal voting is a big problem and electoral fraud is a sad truth in Germany”

On August 15th 2021, the German right-wing populist party Alternative für Deutschland (AfD) claimed on Facebook that postal voting in Germany is “not a solution, but a problem” and that every election year has significant cases of electoral fraud. In the German federal election 2021, AfD member Björn Höcke called the people to go to…