Residents of Magdeburg reflect on the far-right Alternative für Deutschland’s historic victory in Saxony-Anhalt’s state elections, which has sent shockwaves through Germany and beyond. Despite the party’s radical policies—including its anti-immigrant stance and ties to Kremlin-aligned rhetoric—the reporter found a mix of personal stories and reactions among locals, from a young paramedic to an elderly woman who shared her own history as a refugee. The AfD’s landslide win, described as a seismic political event, has left many grappling with its implications for the region’s future. Interviews reveal how deeply personal experiences shape perspectives on the election’s outcome.
After the AfD’s landslide win in Saxony-Anhalt, people in the state capital share what they make of the result – and what comes next• Don’t get This Is Europe delivered to your inbox? Sign up hereAsking residents in a city where a seismic political event has just taken place ‘How do you feel?’ demands chutzpah – this struck me as I walked around Magdeburg, Germany on Monday. The night before, the far-right populist, anti-immigrant, pro-Kremlin party Alternative für Deustchland (AfD) had landslide 44% win in Saxony-Anhalt’s state elections, sending shock waves to Berlin, across Germany and way beyond. Regardless of how people in the capital voted, it felt like a bit of an affront to probe. Given the radical plans of the victors, a party classified by domestic intelligence as “rightwing extremist”, that is what I wanted to know. But from the 21-year-old Guinean-German paramedic I met at the central bus station, collecting donations for a local hospice, to the elderly couple returning to their apartment after a stroll down the Elbe river, almost everyone I met opened up to me warmly.Judith, 88, was initially reluctant to talk, but shared some of her life story. Her experience as an eight-year-old refugee, forced to leave Poland in 1946 and eventually ending up move with her family in Magdeburg, had shaped her outlook on life, her successful career as a project engineer – as well as her politics. The news that AfD had not only won the election, but by such a wide margin, was “heartbreaking”, she said. Continue reading...
