On September 6, Germany saw an election result that would have been difficult to imagine a few decades ago. The Alternative for Germany (AfD), a far-right party, won the state election in Saxony-Anhalt with 43.8% of the vote, becoming the largest force in the state parliament. The Christian Democratic Union (CDU), the party of Chancellor Friedrich Merz, came in second, with 17.2% of the vote.
The AfD did not win enough seats to govern on its own. Still, its victory was historic, since 1945, no far-right party had achieved such a result in a German state election. The party won 43.8% of the vote and secured 39 of the 83 seats in the state parliament, falling three seats short of an absolute majority.
For a country whose political culture has been deeply shaped by the Holocaust, Nazism, and the idea of “Never Again,” the result raises an uncomfortable question: how did Germany get here?
A result that goes beyond one election
To understand the AfD’s success, it is necessary to look beyond election day. Saxony-Anhalt is part of eastern Germany, a region that was once part of the German Democratic Republic (GDR), the socialist state that existed until German reunification in 1990. After reunification, several parts of eastern Germany experienced major economic and demographic changes. Many industrial jobs disappeared, young people left the region in search of opportunities, and many communities became older and more rural.
These experiences still influence local politics. Recent analyses of support for the AfD in eastern Germany point to economic difficulties and frustrations related to the reunification process, rather than explaining the vote simply as a desire for authoritarianism.
A feeling of being left behind has also combined with broader economic and political dissatisfaction. In Saxony-Anhalt, a 2025 survey found that 38.5% of respondents considered the economy, jobs and wages the most pressing issues, while 22.7% pointed to migration. Across Germany, a June 2026 ARD-DeutschlandTREND survey found that 27% of respondents considered the economy the country’s most urgent political issue, followed by immigration and refugees at 21%. Only 13% viewed Germany’s current economic situation positively, while 85% described it as less than good or poor.
This does not mean that all AfD voters share the same motivations. But it helps explain how a party that once occupied a marginal position has managed to build a much larger electoral base.
From Euroscepticism to the far right
The AfD was founded in 2013. At first, the party was mainly known for its opposition to the euro and its criticism of European integration. Its political profile changed significantly in the following years, particularly during the 2015 refugee crisis.
Immigration gradually became one of the central issues on the party’s agenda, alongside nationalism and opposition to what the AfD calls the political “establishment”, a term often used to describe Germany’s traditional political parties and the institutions that have dominated the country’s politics.
Today, the party advocates much stricter immigration policies and promotes the idea of “remigration,” a term that has become highly controversial in Germany because of its associations with the forced removal of people based on ethnic or cultural criteria.
Chancellor Friedrich Merz has accused the AfD of supporting policies that could amount to “ethnic cleansing.” Speaking in the Bundestag on September 9, he said: “If what is being advocated here, namely ‘remigration’, were to become reality, it would be nothing other than a synonym for ethnic cleansing based on origin and skin colour.” The AfD rejected this characterization, arguing that “remigration” refers to the deportation, in accordance with German law, of foreigners who are required to leave the country.
The AfD’s political platform also includes stricter immigration policies, opposition to some climate policies, and a greater emphasis on German national identity. Its leading candidate in Saxony-Anhalt, Ulrich Siegmund, campaigned on themes such as “Our land, our culture” and called for greater emphasis on German history and national symbols.
Some of these proposals take on particular significance when considered alongside Germany’s relationship with its own past.
What does “Never Again” mean today?
After 1945, Germany developed a political culture in which confronting the crimes of Nazism became an important part of democratic education and national identity.
The expression “Never Again” goes beyond remembering the Holocaust. It also represents a commitment to protecting democratic institutions and preventing the political conditions that allowed Nazism to rise. This is precisely why the growth of the AfD creates such a particular tension in Germany.
The existence of a far-right party does not mean that Germany is returning to Nazi Germany. The historical, political, and institutional contexts are different. Likewise, voting for a far-right party does not automatically mean that every voter shares Nazi ideology.
This does not mean that Germany is returning to Nazi Germany, or that every person who votes for the AfD shares Nazi beliefs. The political and historical contexts are very different. However, this distinction does not change how Nazism itself is classified. Historians and institutions that study the period, including the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, Yad Vashem, and Germany’s Federal Agency for Civic Education, classify Nazism as a far-right movement.
This distinction is important when discussing the AfD’s rise: its growing support does not mean that Germany is repeating its Nazi past, but it does bring questions about nationalism, racism, immigration and democracy back into the country’s political debate.
The “firewall” is under pressure
For years, Germany’s main political parties have maintained what is often called a “firewall,” or Brandmauer, against the AfD. The idea is simple: traditional parties should not form coalitions or politically cooperate with the AfD.
When a far-right party receives a small share of the vote, keeping it isolated is relatively simple. But what happens when almost half of voters support it? This is the challenge created by the Saxony-Anhalt election.
The AfD won 43.8% of the vote, but it still needs other parties or some form of parliamentary agreement to govern. Germany’s electoral system means that winning the largest share of the vote does not automatically mean forming the government. The main parties continue to rule out forming a coalition with the AfD.
The question, then, is no longer simply whether the firewall exists. It is whether it can remain politically sustainable when the AfD becomes the most-voted party in a state. And the answer could have consequences beyond Saxony-Anhalt.
Why are traditional parties losing ground?
The AfD’s growth has also forced Germany’s traditional parties to confront their own loss of support. Chancellor Friedrich Merz has attempted to address some of the issues that have helped the AfD grow, particularly immigration. His government has adopted stricter measures on irregular migration and border controls, while also introducing economic reforms aimed at stimulating growth, including a €500 billion infrastructure fund. More recently, the government has also faced pressure to address rising fuel and energy costs. Still, the CDU has not managed to stop the party’s rise in eastern Germany.
Before the election, Merz said that an AfD victory could discourage foreign investors from investing in Saxony-Anhalt. According to him, international companies might be less interested in establishing businesses in a state governed by an AfD state premier.
But warnings from traditional politicians may not be enough when part of the population feels that their everyday problems are not being addressed.
This creates a difficult political situation. If traditional parties simply tell voters that the AfD is unacceptable, they may appear disconnected from the frustrations that helped produce the result. But if they increasingly adopt positions defended by the AfD in an attempt to win those voters back, they may end up shifting the political debate even further toward the party’s agenda.
A German or European problem?
Germany is not the only European country where parties on the radical right have gained ground. In Italy, Giorgia Meloni became prime minister in 2022 after her Brothers of Italy party won the general election, bringing a party with roots in the post-war Italian right into national government. More recently, debates over immigration have remained central to her government’s agenda, including new measures targeting migration and integration.
Germany’s case, however, carries a particular historical weight. The country’s political system was rebuilt after the fall of Nazi Germany, and confronting the crimes of the Nazi period became an important part of its post-war democratic culture. As a result, the rise of the AfD is not only a debate about immigration, nationalism, or dissatisfaction with traditional parties. It also raises questions about how Germany understands its own history and the meaning of “Never Again.”
The AfD’s victory does not mean that the country has abandoned the democratic values built after World War II. It does, however, show that historical memory alone cannot prevent political change.
“Never Again” can preserve a warning from the past, but it cannot decide how people will respond to the problems of the present. The question Germany faces now is not simply whether it remembers what happened before 1945. It is whether that memory can continue to shape its democracy as voters deal with economic insecurity, immigration, political dissatisfaction, and a changing European political landscape.
The result in Saxony-Anhalt may therefore be more than an isolated state election. It puts Germany’s post-war political culture to the test as the far right moves from the margins to the center of the electoral conversation.
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The article above was edited by Ana Rita Rodrigues Fernandes.
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