“AfD Voters, Stay Away”: Bielefeld Pharmacist Sparks a Storm

“This is going to be a political post,” pharmacist Elisabeth Kutter announced on Sunday, filming herself in a red jumper. Then she addressed her customers directly: anyone who sympathises with or votes for the AfD should go to the competition, because she does not want to earn money from them.

The clip passed almost 100,000 views and set off a storm on X, where “Apotheke” became a trending term. Critics flooded the pharmacy with bad reviews; by Kutter’s own account its Google rating fell from 4.7 to about three stars, and the listing has since disappeared. Her Instagram account is no longer public.

“Jeder, der mit der AfD sympathisiert, sie wählt: Bitte meide meine Apotheke! Meide mein Team, meide mein Umfeld.”

“Anyone who sympathises with the AfD or votes for it: please avoid my pharmacy! Avoid my team, avoid my circle.”

— Elisabeth Kutter, owner of the Panda pharmacy in Bielefeld, in her video

What the law says

In Germany pharmacies are bound by a duty to supply: any valid doctor’s prescription must be filled. Kutter now says she never meant otherwise. “Of course you will be served. Of course you will get your medicines,” she wrote later — but added that she still does not like AfD voters and that they are “simply not welcome”. She called her critics “the brown broth” that had “declared war” on her pharmacy.

Naomi Seibt, who shared the video, pointed to elderly and disabled people who depend on their local pharmacy. AfD politician and doctor Martin Vincentz answered that he would never refuse to treat a left-wing patient.