Generation Germany

Before the sun rose on the western German city of Giessen on November 29, individuals were lining the streets armed with signs reading “New Name, Same Fascists” and “No Tolerance for Intolerance.”

They were protesting the founding congress of Generation Germany, which would cement the organization as the official youth wing of the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party. Over 25,000 demonstrators crowded into the town to take a stand against the meeting’s 800 attendees, blocking the streets and ultimately inhibiting its start. The event nonetheless kicked off with a two-hour delay, and Generation Germany was established as the latest channel through which the far right courts the Fatherland’s youth.

“New Name, Same Fascists” refers to the founding of Generation Germany eight months after the dissolution of the Young Alternative (JA), an organization associated with the AfD, although not officially under the party’s purview. In 2023, the JA was designated by Germany’s Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution (BfV) as having “verified extremist aspirations”, a judgement that exposed them to criminal investigations and the possibility of a ban. An AfD challenge to this designation was dismissed by Cologne’s Administrative Court in 2024. Although not a formal party organ, the JA worked closely with the AfD to establish a pipeline of potential voters and political talent. A JA ban, therefore, would have reflected poorly on the party, particularly since the BfV also classified it as “verified right-wing extremist” earlier this year. The pressure led the JA to dissolve itself on March 31. But the AfD could not afford to lose the younger demographic that the JA amassed, especially after the party’s showing as the second-most popular among Germans aged 18-24 in this year’s federal election. That left just one solution: a rebrand.

Generation Germany is a more polished, professional-looking version of the JA, although the faces are largely the same. At the helm of the organization is 28-year-old Jean-Pascal Hohm, formerly JA leader in the eastern state of Brandenburg and currently a member of that state’s parliament. Hohm joined the AfD at age 17 in 2014, just a year after its founding. The two have “grown up” together.

Hohm was elected Generation Germany’s chairperson with 90% of the vote after facing no opposition. Bounding up the steps to take the stage in Giessen, Hohm appeared controlled, cohesive and charismatic. He was clear when asked about Generation Germany’s goals: The organization would be disciplined, akin to a training ground for new recruits (“Kaderschmiede”), always acting in the interest of strengthening the AfD. And because it is now the party’s designated youth organization, Generation Germany falls under the AfD’s umbrella of legal protection, unlike the JA. As long as the AfD is not banned at the federal level (a topic hotly debated but unlikely to come to pass), Generation Germany will not suffer the same fate as its predecessor.

In many ways, Hohm is the group’s ideal representative. His statements at its founding congress are in line with the mission of any party’s youth organization, even if the militaristic undertone feels extreme. By emphasizing his commitment to turning Generation Germany into a well-managed political asset, he is inherently condemning how the JA conducted itself (while conveniently side-stepping his own role in the organization’s leadership). However, his capable, somewhat affable, demeanor belies a much more checkered past. Hohm has been identified by the State Office for the Protection of the Constitution in Brandenburg as being a right-wing extremist. He has also been criticized for his connections to the “Identitarian” movement, an ethno-nationalist ideology centered on the preservation of white European identity. His association at FC Energie Cottbus, a third-tier soccer team that became a hub for right-wing hooligans and neo-Nazis, was in part why he lost his job as an aide for the AfD Brandenburg parliamentary group in 2017. Clearly, this did not damage his long-term political aspirations, as he soon took another role within the party and was elected to the state parliament later that year.

Hohm is not distancing himself from his controversial past, despite critical coverage in national media and the desire to present a more reputable image. If anything, he is doubling down on his defense of Identitarianism and the AfD’s extremist agenda. Generation Germany’s veneer is similarly thin. The Office for the Protection of the Constitution in the state of Thuringia has already raised alarm over Generation Germany’s extreme right-wing stances, seeing little difference between the organization’s positions and JA ideology.

The timing of Generation Germany’s launch is strategic, as is the more normalized image it seeks to project. 2026 could be the year that the AfD finally becomes too large to exclude from governance, as it closes out 2025 as Germany’s most popular party. Polls in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania and Saxony-Anhalt, two eastern German states holding elections in 2026, show the AfD trouncing all other parties with 38% and 40% support, respectively.

Until now, cooperation with the AfD has been taboo behind a “firewall” that mainstream parties erected, but that barrier has been cracking for some time. The AfD knows that its only way into power will be by fomenting enough doubt among voters about the firewall’s legitimacy to get other parties to dismantle it. This is the reason for the AfD’s year-long effort to rehabilitate its image, culminating in this new youth wing. The JA was a liability, but Generation Germany’s reinvented countenance could be key to the legitimacy the AfD needs to rule.

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