A massive leak of internal communications from Germany’s Alternative for Germany (AfD) has exposed a series of controversies involving alleged illegal political donations, the handling of classified government documents, the storage of journalists’ personal information and financial links with far-right activists.
The leak, which emerged 15 days before the publication of the latest findings, contains approximately 280 gigabytes of internal party data, including 421,326 emails covering the period from 25 March 2013 to 14 September 2026. Hackers reportedly gained access to several AfD email accounts, including one belonging to former party leader Alexander Gauland. Investigations into the material remain incomplete.
The AfD has sought to limit the damage through legal action against what it considers the unauthorised distribution of some material while questioning the significance of the disclosures. A party spokesman described the information as extracts from a small number of email accounts, most of which had not been used for years. AfD executive committee member Hannes Gnauck dismissed the material as “a few gigabytes of unimportant stuff”.
However, investigations published so far have revealed information with potentially serious implications for senior party figures, particularly co-leader Alice Weidel.
One of the most significant revelations concerns the party’s controversial financing through donations from Switzerland in 2017. According to an investigation by Der Spiegel, emails suggest that Weidel may have known about the payments earlier than she previously acknowledged, potentially contradicting her public account of the affair.
Weidel’s constituency association reportedly received an illegal donation of €132,000 in several instalments between July and September 2017. The money was intended to finance the Bundestag election campaign of Weidel, who was then one of the AfD’s leading candidates. A court subsequently ruled against the party, which was ordered to pay a penalty of almost €400,000.
Weidel had maintained that she first learned of the unsolicited donation in September 2017 and later advocated returning the money because of concerns about its legality. She said she had trusted the relevant party officials to handle the matter properly.
The leaked correspondence, however, suggests that she was more closely involved in arrangements surrounding the payments than previously indicated. Her spokesman responded that Weidel had enquired about the relevant bank accounts shortly before the transfers because she had been informed that donations might be forthcoming. “Neither did Ms Weidel expect specific amounts nor was she certain that individual persons would actually donate,” the spokesman said.
A separate investigation by German broadcaster ZDF found that employees of AfD politician Markus Frohnmaier regularly forwarded documents classified as “classified information – for official use only” to his private email account in 2018. The documents reportedly included Foreign Ministry records concerning negotiations over Ukraine, a Russian poisoning attack in Britain and weekly Defence Ministry briefings on the security situation involving overseas deployments by German armed forces.
Frohnmaier acknowledged that documents had been forwarded to his private account but said his office had routinely transferred all incoming correspondence there at the time. He said the practice had since ended and denied passing classified information to unauthorised individuals or collecting information for foreign governments.
The disclosures also indicate possible violations of journalists’ data privacy. According to investigative outlet Correctiv, the AfD had stored information belonging to at least 1,000 journalists on a publicly accessible section of its website, potentially for several years. The information included private addresses contained on press identification cards used for accreditation at party conferences. The party reportedly removed the material only after Correctiv raised the issue. Berlin’s data protection authority has opened an examination.
The emails also document changes in the relationship between Weidel and prominent party figure Björn Höcke. In late 2015, Weidel described one of his speeches, which referred to an “African expansionist type”, as highly problematic and expressed concern that the AfD could be included in an intelligence agency report on extremism. She also reacted angrily to critical coverage of Höcke in The New York Times. An attempt by the party’s federal executive to expel him subsequently failed before a regional arbitration tribunal in Thuringia.
Weidel now describes Höcke as a “very, very good politician”, considers the earlier expulsion proceedings a mistake and has said she could imagine him serving as a minister.
Further emails reveal financial and professional links between the AfD and far-right activists. One case involves Patrick S., a man with a history of violent neo-Nazi activity who was convicted, among other offences, for attacking a Green Party member of the Bundestag. He reportedly earns money providing graphic design services to the AfD while awaiting another court appearance.
The leaked material indicates that the party’s connections extend to individuals previously involved in neo-Nazi organisations and members of the far-right Identitarian Movement. Further analysis of the 280-gigabyte dataset is continuing.
