Uncertainty grows among refugees and migrants as Germany heads to the polls

Yes, I know many people are big supporters of the AfD here, but I just don’t understand it. Germans, too, are foreigners in other places,

she told Al Jazeera

The overall atmosphere is rather tense in Germany at the moment, and refugees do feel the changing attitude towards them,

said Judith Wiebke, a spokesperson for PRO ASYL, a German pro-immigration group

It’s a protest vote because people are frustrated,

said Ines Heider, parliamentary candidate for the Revolutionary International Organisation (RIO), an independent group promising open borders and an end to weapons for Israel

Angela Merkelchancellor

Wir schaffen das!” ... We can do it!”

Former Chancellor Angela Merkel of the CDU/CSU party declared in 2015

There were grown men crying to me because they fear for their families after receiving these tickets,

Bauer, who has filed a lawsuit against AfD’s spokesperson in Karlsruhe, said

They are being stigmatised and labelled as a collective threat, particularly by the far right,

she added

From a purely economic perspective, it is clear that Germany, like any other Western countries, are very much dependent on migration,

he added

For the far right, every migrant is a bad person,

he added

We have seen people coming from the Middle East [to Germany], being considered not only as a threat, but also the main source of anti-Semitism in Germany,

she said

Zero percent of Germans want this present government to run again, and so they search for an alternative. The other day, I went to a strike of bus drivers, and one of them said to me, ‘I don’t really like the AfD, but I don’t really know who else to vote for,’

she said

This is, of course, very speculative and difficult to say, but I think the migration issue is too pressing here in Germany,

said Kritikos

Eckart von Klaedengerman politician

Xenophobia, hatred, antisemitism of any kind, and extremism are in clear contradiction to the values of Mercedes-Benz,

Eckart von Klaeden, Head of External Affairs at Mercedes-Benz, told DW

We firmly believe that the future lies not just in Germany, but in Germany within Europe,

Stefan Wintels, CEO of the state-owned development bank KfW, told DW

The answer ... Companies are afraid of their home location being disadvantaged and investments declining."

said Alexander Kritikos from the German Institute for Economic Research (DIW

Companies have traditionally stayed away from party politics in Germany, as have associations for the most part,

explained Knut Bergmann from the German Economic Institute (IW).

In our view, fear, protectionism and division are not a solution to the pressing issues of our time,

she said,

Germany is really unsafe, the immigration is uncontrolled and something has to change,

said Yusuf, 18, among a group of teenagers at the AfD event in Karlsruhe

Marc Bernhardthe AfD MP

We hope to establish a new partnership of conservatives, like we can already see in the U.S.,

Marc Bernhard, another AfD lawmaker, said at the conference center in Karlsruhe, where a mostly white, mostly male audience ate sausages and pretzels, washed down with fizzy pilsner

First, I also thought the AfD were fascists, but since I informed myself I knew that the AfD isn’t a fascist party,

added Yusuf, whose Tunisian grandfather came to Germany in the 1960s

We have more than 70 former refugees working for us — from Syria, Pakistan, Afghanistan and various African countries,

said Bonita Grupp, managing partner of Trigema, a textiles dynasty founded by her great-grandfather in 1919