Anyone who drives into Cottbus has seen the posters on the street for a few days now: Peace demonstration with Tino Chrupalla, AfD. At noon on Sunday, the time has come. There have been many peace demonstrations recently. But the demonstration of the AfD stands out. It is more of a test run than a rally, because the AfD has been trying to market itself as a "peace party" for several weeks. Here, in Cottbus, we want to show how the people out there in the country think about it. The location is chosen wisely.

Friederike Haupt

Political correspondent in Berlin.

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In the coming days, the AfD is organizing a "peace initiative" with demonstrations in Nuremberg, Magdeburg and Baden-Württemberg. But Cottbus is something special. The AfD is more successful here than almost anywhere else in Germany – stronger in elections, better networked with right-wing extremist associations, at least tolerated in the middle of society.

This is not because it is moderate, on the contrary. The Office for the Protection of the Constitution classifies the party's Brandenburg state association as a suspected right-wing extremist case, and more than half of its members are suspected of being extremist. The völkisch-nationalist forces are strong. And in the south, in Cottbus, particularly strong.

The AfD is now one of them in Cottbus

The Office for the Protection of the Constitution calls the milieu there in and around the AfD a "toxic entity" consisting of football hooligans, bouncers, new right-wingers, extremist clubs and meeting places. One man whom the Office for the Protection of the Constitution sees as a key networker between the AfD, proven right-wing extremist forces and citizens is the AfD district chairman in Cottbus, Jean-Pascal Hohm. These days, he is promoting Chrupalla's peace demonstration on Telegram and has helped hang up the posters in the city.

Hohm suggested the "Brau & Bistro", a restaurant on the Altmarkt in the heart of Cottbus, for the interview with the F.A.Z. There, although it is afternoon and the restaurant is almost empty, he has reserved a table. He knows he's welcome. Just like in other inns in the city. In the past, the AfD always held its regulars' table in the same pub, but for some time now it has been meeting in changing venues, sometimes in the "McPütt'n Irish Dance Pub", sometimes in the "Hotel zur Sonne".

This is intended to show offensively: The AfD is not hiding, and landlords no longer have to be afraid that AfD meetings will attract left-wing activists who spray paint on the wall. The AfD is now one of them in Cottbus. During the conversation with Hohm, a man comes to the table, his treasurer, as Hohm says, who happens to be here. The man takes Hohm's glass of water, pulls the Paulaner beer mat underneath and puts down an AfD beer mat. They both laugh. Then the man goes back to his table.

In Cottbus, the AfD displays a self-confidence that it cannot afford elsewhere. In November, one of their men was preparing to become Lord Mayor of Cottbus. It would be the first in a major German city. He made it to the runoff. In the end, the SPD candidate won. But that gave the other parties only a brief respite. A few days ago, a poll showed that the AfD would be the strongest force if the state elections were held in Brandenburg. That's next year.