The “deportation song” was a campaign success for the AfD on social media. But the melody was stolen from the “Atzen”. Now the party is banned from the song.
It was a central advertising tool for the AfD among the young target group in the state election campaign in East Germany: adding new, racist lyrics to older party songs and making them go viral on social media. However, the party is no longer allowed to use one of its greatest successes – the so-called deportation song, composed to the melody of the party classic “Das geht ab” by “Die Atzen” -. Otherwise you could face high penalties.
The Brandenburg AfD chairman René Springer informed the members of his association in a letter that was available to t-online. The AfD has issued a “binding cease-and-desist and commitment declaration that is punishable by penalty,” which prohibits it from using the song at events such as on social media. “In the event of any breach of contract, we are threatened with severe contractual penalties!” says Springer.
The “deportation song” has been a hit in right-wing circles on the Internet for months. After the Brandenburg state election, AfD members danced to it in front of cameras at the party’s election party and sang along loudly: “Hey, now it’s off, we’re deporting them all !” They held a sign in their hands that read: “Deport millions of people.” Videos of the scene went viral.
The AfD youth organization “Junge Alternative” tailored the song for the election campaign using artificial intelligence. She successfully distributed a video showing a deportation plane on the Internet.
The catchy melody, however, comes from the 2009 successful party song “That’s going on! (We party all night)” by the hip-hop duo “Die Atzen”. It consists of the Berlin rappers Frauenarzt and Manny Marc.
After the election party, the two artists made a short statement saying they were not happy about the use of their song by the largely right-wing extremist AfD. “The only people who are allowed to rewrite our song are Hertha BSC Ostkurve and Spongebob,” they wrote on Instagram. Apparently the rappers have now taken further steps.
AfD state chief Springer writes that after internal consultation they decided to comply with the request and make the statement. In the current case, legal costs of up to 36,000 euros should be avoided. But that only works if future breaches of contract are avoided.
“This means that we may not play this song publicly, sing it or make it accessible and/or share it on social media,” says Springer. The video accompanying the song may no longer be publicly accessible.
In the event of violations, the AfD leader does not want to pay any penalties from the state executive board’s coffers, he warns, but instead wants to “hold harmless the acting members.”
Immediately after the election party, the AfD leadership in both the state and federal states rated the song as unproblematic. Springer spoke of the “harmless” behavior of the singing and dancing party members. Federal head Tino Chrupalla said that young people “have a right to celebrate wildly”.
The melody of the “Atzen” hit is not the first song that the AfD and right-wing circles have used and abused. Gigi D’Agostino’s party hit “L’Amour tourjours”, now with the neo-Nazi slogan “Germany for the Germans, foreigners out”, kicked things off. In addition to the “deportation song,” a second D’Agostino song was recently circulating: “Blablabla” became “Only the AfD.”
AfD politicians and supporters shared videos on social media of young women dancing to the bass-heavy song. However, these videos were at least partially faked by supporters – a social media consultant close to the AfD gave detailed instructions online. A young influencer whose dance video was so misused told t-online at the time: “I am absolutely disgusted and horrified that the AfD is using my content to promote themselves.”