The Young Alternative for Germany (German: Junge Alternative für Deutschland or JA) was a far-right youth organization in Germany. Founded in June 2013 and dissolved in March 2025, it was made for people aged 14 to 35 years. The JA was the de facto youth wing of the Alternative for Germany (AfD) party until it was officially recognized as such in November 2015. The JA continued to be the official youth wing of the AfD until January 2025, when AfD leadership voted to replace it, as it had been categorized as extremist by the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution (BfV) since 2023.
Its last chairman was Hannes Gnauck.
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History
The JA was founded on 15 June 2013, four months after the AfD, with Torsten Heinrich as the organisation's first chairperson. Heinrich left the party in March 2014.
In view of the JA's independence, it has been regarded by the AfD hierarchy as being somewhat wayward, with the JA repeatedly accused of being "too far right", politically regressive and anti-feminist among the German media.
In March 2014, the Junge Alternative hosted Nigel Farage who had been invited to address the party's North Rhine-Westphalia organisation in Cologne. The invitation is alleged to have caused some trouble within the AfD itself over the youth wing's unauthorised invitation of Farage, with the regional association and the youth wing wanting to stress their independence. The invitation was contrary to a decision of the AfD National Executive whose policy is that official contact with foreign parties is decided only by the federal executive. Nigel Farage's presence apparently led to a deterioration in relations with Bernd Lucke, the then-AfD leader, who called the move a "sign of poor political tact".