The far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD), which has called for ending the refugee status of Ukrainians who fled Russia’s invasion, won the largest share of votes in the German state of Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania on Sept. 20. It was the party’s third state election victory and its second this month.
Anastasiia Yakovlieva, 25, a Ukrainian who has lived in Germany since March 2022, said the results raise questions for her. “That sometimes makes you think – do you want to stay in Germany or do you want to change your country?” she said. “Do you want to live in a society like this?”
The AfD’s national platform says refugees “need to leave Germany” and “return to their home countries.” The party’s Saxony-Anhalt chapter, which won 43.8% of the state’s vote earlier this month, has published its own manifesto calling for a mass-deportation campaign it calls “remigration” and encouraging businesses to use artificial intelligence rather than turn to “culturally alien” migrant workers, according to Reuters. Ulrich Siegmund, the lead AfD candidate in Saxony-Anhalt, has said that “remigration applies to anyone who does not contribute to society” – a category that includes Ukrainian refugees without jobs, NPR reported.
Chancellor Friedrich Merz’s center-right Christian Democratic Union has ruled out working with the AfD. Germany’s domestic intelligence service monitors the party nationally as a suspected extremist organization.
Sofiia Patkanovtsiy, a Princeton University sophomore from Uzhhorod in western Ukraine, described the AfD’s victories as “distressing.” She said Ukraine is increasingly “used like a buzzword for pushing political agendas or anti-immigration sentiments.” Patkanovtsiy plans to return to Ukraine after graduating, under a commitment to the nonprofit Ukraine Global Scholars, whose scholars pledge to work in Ukraine for at least five years.
Yakovlieva is from Donetsk, which came under the control of Russian-backed forces in 2014. Her family fled to Kyiv and was living near Bucha and Irpin, outside the capital, when Russia launched its full-scale invasion in February 2022.
“I didn’t want to get encircled, and that’s why I decided to flee the war,” she said.
She left with her mother, stopping briefly in Poland before settling in Germany. Her father and brother later joined them, and her family now lives near Cologne.
Yakovlieva speaks four languages, holds project-management certifications, and is working on a second bachelor’s degree, but said, “I’m not that attractive of a worker in the German labor market.” German employers want German-issued qualifications, she said, and retraining can take years. Her first degree would qualify her to teach in Germany only after two more years of study.
Her mother holds a finance degree from a Ukrainian university and spent a decade caring for children. According to Yakovlieva, she completed a job-center training course and a month of practical training at a German kindergarten. The kindergarten then declined to hire her as an assistant because she lacked the required bachelor’s degree. Yakovlieva said some Germans work in such roles without a degree or certificate “just because they are German.”
“A lot of Ukrainians had to agree to work in lower positions than they used to work in Ukraine,” she said.
In July, EU countries agreed to extend temporary protection for people fleeing Ukraine until March 4, 2028. More than 4 million people have received that protection since 2022. The status stems from an EU-wide decision, not from national or state governments.
Yakovlieva holds a residence permit under that temporary-protection provision. She said her employer, an American company, cannot provide the documents she would need for a German work visa.
In about six months, she said, she will be able to choose between applying for German citizenship and seeking permanent residency, which would require changing jobs.
“It’s in [Germany’s] interest to keep the people here,” Yakovlieva said. “I think when the time comes, they will be trying to provide an opportunity for those who want to stay.”
