Ramadan luxury buffet invented: NIUS embarrasses itself again with fake story!
Volksverpetzer
A cafeteria opening in Dortmund becomes a political scandal: false claims, right-wing propaganda, and manipulations obscure the true story – a self-funded celebration without a religious background. But behind the lies lies a targeted strategy to promote social division and political influence.
A new cafeteria tenant wanted to host a nice, non-religious opening celebration at her own expense – after the hate site NIUS spread lies about a tax-funded luxury buffet for Ramadan, she received threats. The NIUS writer apparently posted that he writes his articles with an AfD pen. And the agenda behind the propaganda becomes clear.
New tenant celebrated opening at her own expense
In Dortmund, the canteen of the Employment Agency stood empty for six months – then she got a new tenant. Selvi Aksünger took over the canteen and then organized at her own expense a wonderful opening buffet. The idea was for it to serve as advertising for her new canteen and to make a good impression. However, the paid propagandists of "NIUS" apparently found it to be a bit too convincing.
T-online describes how the invitation came about: The tenant sent an invitation to the management of the Employment Agency to be forwarded internally. And this forwarding was later portrayed as if "the authority" itself had invited to Iftar. According to the intranet post, however, it was already stated in the headline that the new canteen tenant was inviting.
And one more point that is not mentioned in the outrage story because it doesn't fit the enemy image: Aksünger said according to t-online that she herself is not Muslim and that the idea to serve the food a few minutes later than planned to align with sunset was from her and her team, as a unifying gesture in a neighborhood where culture plays a role. But it was not a "Ramadan celebration" – drinks had already been distributed beforehand. The celebration had no religious character.
Actually, not worth mentioning at all. But the poor operator now receives threats – because the right-wing lie machine NIUS struck again.
How NIUS turned a nice canteen opening into a propaganda story
The anger propaganda of NIUS is already evident in the headline. The text carries the headline: “Breaking the fast for Bürgergeld recipients: Dortmund Employment Agency celebrates Ramadan with luxury buffet,” published on March 13, 2026, author: Marc Sierzputowski.
Here, all right-wing enemy images are cleverly combined – Bürgergeld recipients, Muslims, and taxpayer money. In the subtext: “financed by the taxpayer.” Of course, this is not true – but the lie is still claimed in the NIUS article. They don’t want to let the truth spoil their hate story.
In contrast to NIUS, Lars Wienand from t-online researched: The alleged “luxury buffet at state expense” is a lie because Aksünger paid the costs herself. Likewise, the interpretation that the authority “decided” to plan the food as Iftar is false; this idea came from the tenant herself.
They take a photo of food, attach the politically charged trigger words (Bürgergeld, taxpayer, Islam, authority), claim clear responsibility – and wait for the outrage to do the rest. The hatred of the target group is more important than the facts. That’s typical NIUS.
How the AfD and the right-wing online mob exploit the story
And of course, the target group immediately jumped on it and blindly believed every word NIUS said. The AfD Bundestag member Christian Wirth even announced on X that he had filed criminal charges against the management of the Dortmund Employment Agency for “embezzlement in office” – absurd.
Fascist Martin Sellner also spread the claim further in an exaggerated English version, garnished with the phrase “Headlines you could not make up”. "Headlines that you could not make up". Wienand only comments aptly: "Sellner underestimated NIUS."
I believe it is unnecessary to further document how the extreme right – the most active beneficiaries of right-wing NIUS propaganda – exploited this fake story. It is a well-known routine in this extremist bubble.
First insult, then secretly rewrite
When the facts dismantle the outrage narrative, a second phase often follows: distraction, attack, shifting blame.
Julian Reichelt did not respond with a clear correction to the readers, but instead personally attacked Lars Wienand on X and tried to frame the fact-check that exposed his propaganda site once again as “sweetening” the story. Reichelt considers a canteen tenant hosting an opening event at her own expense a “political misconduct”.
And then what usually happens in reputable editorial offices – but not so here: NIUS later quietly changed the central sentence. The phrase “a buffet funded by taxpayers” was silently replaced with “a buffet organized by a caterer subsidized by taxpayers”.
This may seem trivial, but in reality, it’s an admission: the original claim was a lie. Instead, they shifted to a new, vague insinuation: no longer “the state paid for the buffet,” but “somehow the caterer is connected to the taxpayer.” This is not a scandal, but they desperately try to connect the buffet to the taxpayer. The reader is manipulated constantly. And it’s also correct to say that this article was written by a medium that is subsidized by the (Austrian) taxpayer.
NIUS, as so often, provided no sources and does not reveal if they have spread fake news again. NIUS also does not submit to the Press Council. And that’s exactly how you see how little the portal cares about enlightenment – and how much it cares about influence. That’s why NIUS is not a journalistic medium but a paid agitprop portal. And it also has no place in the federal press conference.
Why such fake scandals work so well politically
The trick behind this is nothing new: right-wing “alternative media” often work with maximum emotionalization, minimal diligence, and a constant “you are being lied to” background noise that ultimately destroys trust in democratic institutions. Although they are right about one thing: the readers are being lied to. And by the right-wing sides.
Deutschlandfunk quotes the political scientist Markus Linden with the assessment that NIUS deliberately crosses boundaries and uses methods of disinformation; it is the media mouthpiece of a milieu that wanted to push the Union to the right.
Here, it becomes particularly relevant for conservatives and Christian Democrats: Sharing such scandal stories – like the false campaign against Brosius-Gersdorf – quickly places democratic parties as “the real danger” in discourse – and the AfD as “a reasonable correction”. The goal: shift the political center until the Union believes it has more in common with the fascists than with other democrats.
But even conservative voices are disappointed, even those who believe there is a “left-green mainstream”: “What a gigantic waste of resources. And painfully embarrassing. What unnecessary agitation and division of society. That’s all, but neither bourgeois nor conservative.”
If you keep this in mind, the Dortmund buffet story reads like a lesson: create false outrage, spread it through algorithms, exert political pressure, and secretly correct it later – while the original anger still circulates.
The behind-the-scenes look – AfD pen, weapons, aesthetics, and the question of journalism
The perhaps most revealing part of this story is not even the false claim, but the self-image behind it. A post circulated on X with the text: “In case anyone asks what pen we use to write our texts” – alongside a photo showing an AfD pen next to weapons. The post seems to have been deleted later.
Whether “satire” or a serious post: The image is descriptive of the ideology behind NIUS. Weapons, lies, and AfD. It’s clear what the agenda is: to strengthen the far-right AfD. And if necessary, with (weapons?) violence.
In the end, the facts remain, as t-online has worked out: It was a completely normal canteen opening, self-financed buffet, invitation by the tenant, no “luxury party for Bürgergeld recipients at taxpayers’ expense”. And NIUS has once again been caught lying, but doesn’t want you to notice.
Article images: Screenshots x.com, canva.com. Parts of the article were created with machine assistance. How Volksverpetzer uses AI. Transparency notice: In a previous version, it stated she received “murder threats,” but she only received “threats.” We apologize for the error.