Several non-governmental organisations criticise the participation of the Alternative for Germany (AfD) in the 2025 edition of Europe's largest education trade fair Didacta in Stuttgart.

The admission requirements for exhibitors must be urgently reviewed and tightened up to ensure that parties that are under observation by the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution as suspected right-wing extremists are not given any space at an education trade fair.

"An education fair aimed at pupils, teachers and other specialist staff must remain free of right-wing extremist and anti-democratic influences," emphasises Petra Kohts, Head of the Global Learning Department at Brot für die Welt. Franz Gulde, Head of the Education Department at Misereor, adds: "Didacta has a responsibility to protect basic democratic values, but it is contradicting itself if it allows the AfD to participate in the trade fair with the motto 'Education needs democracy - democracy needs education'." This is because education stands for a democratic and diverse society in which human and children's rights are respected, protected and promoted - values that the AfD does not represent.

According to the organisers' official statement, political parties are taking part as exhibitors for the first time this year. However, Kindernothilfe board member Carsten Montag warns: "Shortly before the German general elections, the education fair must not become an election campaign arena. The focus must remain on educational programmes and the professional exchange that the fair has been offering for years."

Signatory organisations: Misereor, Kindernothilfe, Brot für die Welt

Further contacts:

Kindernothilfe: Angelika Böhling
angelika.boehling@kindernothilfe.de
Tel.: 0049 (0) 203 7789 130
Brot für die Welt: Thomas Beckmann
Thomas.beckmann@brot-fuer-die-welt.de
Tel.: 0049 (0) 30 65211 1443