The populist, right-wing Alternative for Germany (AfD) party earned sharp criticism for handing out a children's coloring book at an event in the town of Krefeld in the Rhineland. The book did not contain fairytale pictures, but drawings that critics found to be racist, xenophobic, and full of stereotypes.
The Westdeutsche Zeitung newspaper has reported that police are investigating the case. The AfD initially rejected the criticism, but then apologized on 20 February for printing the coloring book and called its distribution an "organizational error".
In the book, entitled Nordrhein-Westfalen zum Ausmalen ("North Rhine-Westphalia for Coloring"), there is, for example, an illustration of people in a car with Turkish flags holding guns. Another page shows a drawing of people with bones in their curly hair who are swimming in a pool as little girls (without such hairstyles) flee the water.
That same illustration also shows a woman in the water in a completely veiled and covered state, holding a knife. The coloring books were distributed in early February at the Krefeld event by the AfD faction seated in the legislature of Germany's most populous state, North Rhine-Westphalia.
After the content of the coloring book was publicized by the German media, the AfD was subjected to a wave of criticism. For example, other political parties represented in the state legislature spoke up and said they believed the coloring book is racist.
