On Sunday 6 September, Germany’s far right secured its biggest electoral victory since the end of the Nazi era. The Alternative for Germany (AfD) secured 43.8 per cent of the vote in Saxony-Anhalt, one of the poorest federal states in the east of the country, during the regional elections. Although the party narrowly missed out on an absolute majority and will have to form a coalition with its opponents to govern, this result has sent shockwaves through the political landscape.

The AfD’s manifesto for Saxony-Anhalt, which is openly xenophobic, advocates ‘remigration’, restrictions on access to abortion, the rejection of environmentalism, and a ‘patriotic cultural revolution’ aimed, in particular, at re-evaluating the memory of Nazism… In the heart of Europe, the victory of this party, which supports Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin, is sounding the alarm. For Germany and the rest of the European Union.