Mnemonic normalisation in the visual politics of the German far-right

Abstract

Drawing on fieldwork in Munich and Karlsruhe during the February 2025 federal election, this article examines how the Alternative for Germany (AfD) deploys street-level visuals to reshape collective memory and mainstream exclusionary politics. Using visual ethnography and social semiotics, it analyses posters, billboards and handouts in situ, attending to composition, salience, modality and text–image anchorage. The article advances mnemonic normalisation to describe the progressive erosion of the constraining force of Germany's post-war guilt through selective reframing of the past. Across motifs of reclaimed freedom, leadership personification, “free speech”, secure borders and remigration, minimalist design, spatial saturation and dog-whistle cues recalibrate what is publicly sayable. Comparative analysis shows that local reception differed—defacement and counter-messaging were common in Munich, while distribution practices intensified in Karlsruhe—yet the core effect converged: embedding claims about who may speak, belong and remain within everyday urban space. The study demonstrates how the far-right can recast remembrance as an obstacle to national renewal, legitimising exclusion and deportability through ordinary design and repeated public display.