A wall coming down was once cause for celebration in Berlin.
But on Monday, the potential breach of the “firewall” keeping the far right out of power since 1945 put German politics in a very different mood.
After the anti-Islam Alternative for Germany (AfD) party romped to victory in an eastern state, the prospect is real of the far right ruling part of Germany for the first time since the Nazi era.
“I couldn’t sleep last night,” said Katja Salomo, a sociologist, of the results. “I hope you had a better night than me.”
The AfD’s manifesto emphasised crime, immigration and the traditional family. One of its slogans was “no to the muezzin and the minaret”, with a pledge to curb Islamic influence in the state of Saxony-Anhalt.
With the AfD having routed its rivals with a record 44 per cent of the vote, there is much dismay but little in the way of a coherent response.
Some have taken to the streets calling for a ban on the party, parts of which are officially considered extremist by security services. One poster on a Berlin street read: “Fight fascism, don’t copy it.” But the prospect of a ban seems unrealistic. “Technically it is possible, but the problem is on a political level,” said Gert Pickel, an academic.
Standing by the Brandenburg Gate, Hajo Schneider, a carer and trade union member, said the response should be “real reforms” from the German government instead of what he called the erosion of the welfare state. “We have to make clear that the Alternative is no alternative,” he told The National, but “right-wing radicals who are putting our freedom, our democracy, our country in danger.”
An AfD state government would have powers over education, policing and deportations. It would also gain a voice in the chamber of regional leaders that approves laws nationally. Even if rival parties cobble together an unwieldy coalition to keep the AfD out, there are fears this will only strengthen the far right’s support.
Any anti-immigration push could also face resistance from German industry. Bertram Kawlath, the head of an engineering federation, said Saxony-Anhalt had the oldest population in Germany and that “securing a skilled workforce” remained a major problem.
If a far-right government runs into problems in Saxony-Anhalt, it can always blame the federal government in Berlin, Mr Pickel said. “The AfD is very flexible, it tells you what you want to hear.”
East speaks
The state that handed the AfD its big win is part of the former communist East, where populist parties have long thrived. Ms Salomo, who grew up in East Germany, said people there had a sense that “nothing is moving” and that this had not changed for 30 years. “We grew up with the sense that we can’t make anything of our lives here,” she said. Some migrated to the West, and those that stayed behind now form the AfD base.
Ulrich Siegmund, the AfD's lead candidate in the state, made it clear on Monday that he was serious about becoming Saxony-Anhalt's state premier, saying he would hold discussions with other parties.
There have been some calls to replace the firewall – the policy of refusing any co-operation with the AfD – with “red lines” for a potential deal. There is a painful awareness, though, that Adolf Hitler’s appointment as chancellor in 1933 came with similar hopes that he could be tamed when he was in power.
At the Brandenburg Gate, a place drenched in so much of that tragic history, opponents of the AfD were planning a major rally. Just around the corner is the Holocaust memorial, both a solemn reminder of that past and a source of modern AfD controversy, when a prominent member called it a “monument of shame”.
Some things are still taboo – the AfD does not openly praise the Nazis. But it skirts around the edges by toying with Nazi terminology, defending the “honour” of German soldiers and urging the country to get over its “eternal guilt complex”.
Hendrik Wüst, the prominent leader of another state from Chancellor Friedrich Merz's party, also appeared at the gate with supporters. He said it was “undeniable” that national politics had played a role in the result.
What frustrates some is that Germany’s mainstream parties can hardly claim to be shocked. The AfD won a state election for the first time in 2024 and vaulted to second place nationally in 2025, chiefly riding concerns over immigration.
Centrist governments in Berlin have tried getting tougher on migration. Other politicians prefer to go on the attack. An email to Green party supporters on the eve of polling day urged them to ask their friends: “Do you not want Nazis in power? Vote Green.”
The result piles pressure on the unpopular Chancellor Merz, who has ruled out any co-operation between his centre-right party and the AfD. Björn Höcke, one of AfD’s most notorious hardline figures, said the firewall had been destroyed.
“The strength of the right has also been the weakness of the left and the democrats,” Mr Pickel said.
