Background information on the announced speakers
On Friday, 27 June 2026, the AfD is holding a rally in Merkstein (Herzogenrath). Nine people are promoted on the poster. This page provides a neutral summary of publicly available information on each person. This is not an assessment, but an overview of what is publicly documented about the respective speakers.
Sources are linked. All information without guarantee. For current information, please contact the original sources mentioned.
| Name | Role | Publicly documented incidents |
|---|---|---|
| Manuel Krauthausen | MP (Bundestag) | ⚠️ Yes |
| Dr. Martin Vincentz | MP (NRW State Parliament), AfD state chair | ⚠️ Yes |
| Markus Wagner | MP (NRW State Parliament) | ⚠️ Yes |
| Serge Menga | AfD-affiliated activist, speaker | ⚠️ Yes |
| Adam Balten | MP (Bundestag) | None found |
| Markus Matzerath | MP (Bundestag) | None found |
| Andrea Pousset | AfD member | None found |
| Andreas Klöcker | Städteregionstag Aachen | None found |
| Marion Bergk | AfD member | None found |
Member of the Bundestag (AfD), constituency Eschweiler/Städteregion Aachen
On New Year's Eve, Krauthausen reposted a video from the far-right channel "rotepyramidewahrheit" suggesting that the Jewish Rothschild family deliberately sank the Titanic to eliminate opponents of the US central bank. The video was set to the Hebrew folk song "Hava Nagila". The claims were debunked by Reuters.
He also referred to himself as an "Aryan Talahon" – a mix of Nazi terminology ("Aryan") and migrant slang.
Sources: WELT, 08.01.2026 · t-online, 08.01.2026
Krauthausen had to leave the police academy in 2014 because he was involved in racist and dehumanising WhatsApp chats. He posted, among other things, a scene from the neo-Nazi film "American History X" in which a neo-Nazi kicks a Black man. A colleague with a migration background was bullied for months. The Aachen administrative court confirmed the dismissal from the police service.
Sources: SPIEGEL, 2014 · RP-Online, 16.09.2014 · SZ, 2015
Member of the State Parliament (AfD), AfD NRW state chair, faction leader in the Düsseldorf State Parliament
At the AfD New Year's reception in Duisburg, Vincentz said:
"The best humour is as black as the Amazon delivery driver who brings your parcels."
The audience jeered and applauded. The remark was classified as racist and sharply criticised. The passage was filmed by a dpa journalist and posted online.
Sources: RP-Online, 16.01.2024
Member of the State Parliament (AfD), former faction leader of the AfD NRW state parliamentary group
The AfD NRW state parliamentary group distributed a "colouring book" called "Nordrhein-Westfalen to colour in" at an event in Krefeld with xenophobic drawings: armed people under a Turkish flag in a car parade, fully veiled women at a swimming pool under the banner "We'll swim that off", a hand with a knife.
Markus Wagner as faction leader initially explicitly praised the book and defended it against racism allegations. The next day he backpedalled and apologised. The state security investigated for incitement to hatred, the public prosecutor's office initiated investigations. The state parliament examined whether faction funds were used improperly.
Sources: WELT, 19.02.2020 · ZEIT, 18.02.2020 · RP-Online, 29.06.2021 (Investigations)
AfD-affiliated speaker, activist, DJ. Not an AfD member (joining attempt failed in 2016).
At an AfD rally in Osnabrück, Menga called out to the audience:
"Make more noise so all of Germany knows the quota Negro is here."
He then demonstratively ate a banana in the direction of the counter-demonstrators. Menga is of Congolese origin and uses these self-designations deliberately provocatively. He regularly appears as a speaker at AfD events.
Sources: WAZ, 28.07.2017
For the following persons, no publicly documented incidents with racist, antisemitic or far-right statements could be found during the research:
Note: "No incidents found" does not mean that none exist. It means that no publicly accessible reports were found during the research.
This research is based on publicly accessible reports from the following media: WELT, SPIEGEL, DIE ZEIT, Süddeutsche Zeitung, RP-Online, WAZ, t-online, n-tv, Tagesschau, Aachener Zeitung, research platforms (abgeordnetenwatch, Correctiv) and dpa reports.
The research was conducted on 25.06.2026. All linked sources were accessed on this date.
Authored by:: Marcel Verkooyen, Volt Herzogenrath
Date:: 25 June 2026
This page serves exclusively to provide information. It is not election advertising, not support or rejection of a political event, and not a call for a counter-event. All persons have the right to freedom of expression and freedom of assembly. This page merely documents publicly available background information.
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