The anxiety surrounding the potential resurgence of a fascist, far-right movement in Germany has been a persistent undercurrent since Carolin Würfel’s youth. This fear was underscored on September 6 when the Alternative für Deutschland (AfD) secured a decisive victory in the state elections in Saxony-Anhalt. The far-right, anti-immigrant, and pro-Kremlin party captured 44% of the vote in a turnout that set new records, making it the largest party in the state parliament.
If the AfD moves to form a government, it will mark the first time a far-right party has held executive power in a German state since the conclusion of the Nazi era. The night before the election, Würfel reached out to a friend with a similar East German background to compare their levels of concern and dread regarding the outcome.
For days leading up to the vote, Würfel reported being trapped in a cycle of consuming local media, including ground-level interviews and video reports. She recognized the demographic voting for the AfD, noting that many could easily have been relatives, her parents’ acquaintances, former teachers, or schoolmates. Rather than attributing their support to a nostalgic yearning for dictatorship, she emphasized the need to understand the incoherent rhetoric and the deep-seated grievance politics that have taken root in the region where she was born.
Leave a Reply