Two comprehensive schools in Lower Saxony, KGS Leeste (Esther-Bejarano-Schule) and KGS Kirchweyhe, received a visit this week. For five days, a converted prison van with flashing blue lights, loudspeakers and a clear message stood in the school playground: ‘Alice Weidel is in prison here’. The vehicle in question is the “Adenauer SRP+” bus from the Centre for Political Beauty. The invitation came from the “Round Table Against the Right – For Integration” in the municipality of Weyhe. Officially, this was part of “Democracy Week”. Unofficially: campaigning for a ban on the AfD.
Inside the bus, in “Cell 03”, sits a life-size effigy of the AfD’s federal chairwoman. Blonde hair in a plait, seen from behind through bars. Next to it, a sign bearing the inscription “Hei(l) Alice”. Pupils are allowed to ask the AI doll questions about “her brown fascist ideology and her plans to overthrow our liberal democratic constitutional order”.
At the same time, large quantities of “FCKAFD” and “Ban the AfD” stickers are being handed out to pupils and stuck up in the school and the surrounding area.
History teacher Aljoscha Riehn from KGS Leeste (Esther-Bejarano-Schule) stated bluntly: “I see anti-fascism as a citizen’s primary duty.” A colleague was “delighted by the wide range of activities on offer and the child-friendly design”. In contrast, Andreas-Dieter Iloff from the Diepholz branch of the AfD reported that several parents had complained and were worried about their children.
Teachers at state schools in Lower Saxony are obliged to remain politically neutral. Under Section 51 of the Lower Saxony School Act, teachers are not permitted to make political statements at school that are likely to call into question the state’s neutrality towards pupils. Yet this is precisely what happens when an Alice Weidel doll is displayed in a prison cell on the school grounds.
According to the Centre for Political Beauty, around 800 schools across the country have already expressed an interest in a visit from the bus. Some declined for fear of breaching neutrality and potential legal action from the AfD. In Weyhe, however, there were apparently no such concerns, even though this is a systematic attempt to indoctrinate pupils politically. It is backed by state infrastructure and often even supported by teachers.
What would have happened if a bus with a doll of Annalena Baerbock or Robert Habeck in a cell had been parked outside a school? With a call to ban the Greens? The outrage would have been huge. The media would have reported on it for days. The education ministries would have ordered investigations.
In the case of Alice Weidel, however, there is silence. NIUS attempted to contact various authorities and the schools concerned in Lower Saxony. No one was prepared to answer questions. The headteacher of KGS Kirchweyhe merely replied that she was not authorised to speak to NIUS and therefore could not comment on the matter.