The far-right Alternative f\u00fcr Deutschland (AfD) has scored a historic electoral victory in the German state of Saxony-Anhalt, triggering a wave of anxiety among immigrants, younger voters and opponents of the party who fear the result could signal a deeper political shift across Germany.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The AfD secured almost 44% of the vote in Sunday\u2019s state election, surpassing expectations and emerging as the dominant political force in the region. While supporters described the result as a rejection of the established political order, critics warned that the party\u2019s strong anti-immigration platform could have profound consequences for minorities and foreign-born residents.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In Magdeburg, the state capital, the election result was still dominating conversations on the streets the following day.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Among those watching the outcome with particular concern were young people from immigrant families. Maryam, a teenager from nearby Wolmirstedt whose name was changed for the interview, said she had been deeply shaken by the AfD\u2019s victory.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cDon\u2019t laugh at me,\u201d she said, expressing a longing for what she remembered as a more stable Germany under former Chancellor Angela Merkel.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Maryam\u2019s family moved to Germany after her father arrived from Syria in 2015. She and her mother joined him two years later. The family has lived with the uncertainty of periodically renewing their residency permits, but the AfD\u2019s election success has intensified her fears about their future.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The party\u2019s proposed 100-day programme includes a commitment to deport people it considers \u201cirregular migrants\u201d from the beginning of an AfD-led government. For families whose legal status is uncertain, such proposals have created a new sense of vulnerability.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Maryam said returning to Syria was something her family did not consider safe. She also said she had grown up in Germany to such an extent that she could not read or write Arabic fluently.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
For some voters, however, immigration concerns were precisely what drove them toward the AfD.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Doreen, a 54-year-old cleaner, initially avoided saying whether she had supported the party but later acknowledged voting for the AfD, which she referred to as \u201cthe blues\u201d. She described her decision as one born out of desperation and frustration with the country’s direction.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
She expressed hope that an AfD government would quickly implement tougher policies on refugees, including ending refugee protection for Ukrainians and reducing support for Ukraine.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Her comments reflected a sentiment increasingly visible among AfD supporters: that Germany\u2019s immigration policies have placed excessive pressure on ordinary citizens and that the established parties have failed to address their concerns.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Doreen also voiced resentment toward Ukrainian refugees, claiming that many appeared to have greater financial resources than she did. Her remarks came near a Stolperstein, one of Germany\u2019s small brass memorial stones commemorating victims of Nazi persecution.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The particular memorial marks the life of Ernst Fliess, a Jewish lawyer who lived at the location before being persecuted, stripped of his rights and ultimately driven to suicide under Nazi rule.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Yet Doreen rejected comparisons between the AfD\u2019s rise and the political circumstances that enabled the Nazis to gain power in the 20th century. She argued that contemporary Germany faces different problems and should not be judged through the lens of its past.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Others in Magdeburg saw the comparison as impossible to ignore.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Ernst and Judith, both 88 and married for 64 years, were reluctant at first to discuss the election. But they soon revealed how deeply distressed they were by the result.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The couple, who voted for the left-wing Die Linke, said they were devastated that a party hostile toward refugees had received such overwhelming support.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
For Judith, the issue was deeply personal. She was forced to flee her home in Silesia in 1945 and spent years living in temporary accommodation before eventually settling in Magdeburg. Her own experience as a displaced person has shaped the way she views today’s refugees.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
She said she recognised the fear in refugees regardless of where they came from and found it painful to see nearly half of the electorate support a party she considers strongly anti-immigrant.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Her concern was not simply about one state election. She feared the result reflected a broader transformation in German society.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
That anxiety was echoed by Christiane and Franz Josef J\u00e4ker, a couple from North Rhine-Westphalia who were visiting Magdeburg. Franz Josef described populism as a threat to the political and social achievements Germany had built since the Second World War.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He argued that populist parties make promises they cannot fulfil while simplifying complex international issues, including the war in Ukraine, to support their political arguments.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The election result has also unsettled people who are uncertain about what an AfD-led government could mean for minorities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Eric, a 21-year-old paramedic who was collecting donations for a hospice, said he regretted not voting. The son of a German mother and a Guinean father, he said he had spent years waiting for German citizenship and was now worried about how a far-right government could affect him as a Black German.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
His greatest concern was not necessarily an immediate change in policy but the possibility of constitutional and institutional changes that could create a wider political \u201cdomino effect\u201d throughout Germany.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
For Luisa, a bank employee who voted for Die Linke, the election has already damaged Saxony-Anhalt\u2019s reputation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
She expressed concern that immigrants who have the financial means may consider leaving the state, while many low-income foreign workers will have little choice but to remain and endure potentially hostile conditions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
She also said interviews with Holocaust survivors had made her more conscious of similarities they perceived between today’s political atmosphere and earlier periods of German history.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The AfD’s victory therefore represents more than a numerical electoral breakthrough. In Magdeburg, it has become a source of sharply contrasting emotions: relief and hope among voters who believe mainstream parties have failed them, and fear and disbelief among those who see the far-right’s rise as a threat to Germany’s democratic and multicultural future.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
For immigrant families, the consequences feel particularly immediate. For older Germans who remember displacement and the lessons of the 20th century, the result has reopened painful historical questions. And for younger people from minority backgrounds, it has raised fears about whether Germany will continue to see them as part of its future.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The debate now extends far beyond Saxony-Anhalt. The state election has demonstrated the electoral strength the AfD can command and intensified questions about how Germany’s established parties will respond to a far-right movement that is no longer confined to the political margins.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
For many residents of Magdeburg, the question is no longer simply who won the election. It is what that victory means for the kind of Germany they will live in next.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A news by Alisha Pradhan, General Secretary, HerNet Foundation<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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