Politics · Saxony-Anhalt AfD takeoverFar-Right AfD Could Take Control of German State Next WeekAired August 28, 2026 at 10:59 AM UTCWritten September 7, 2026 at 9:22 PM UTCRead the write-upThis storyTranscript · LOADING0:00A party Germany calls confirmed right-wing extremists could soon run a state.0:04Saxony-Anhalt controls its own schools, museums, theaters, and culture budgets from0:09Magdeburg, and the alternative for Deutschland is positioned to win the power to0:12form that state government.0:14It would be the first German land ever led by the AFD.0:17What would actually be cut?0:18What would no longer be taught?0:20And whether Germany's firewall against the party will hold are now the open0:23questions.0:24The election is given as 7 September, the vote that would decide who forms the0:28government in Magdeburg.0:30Control means a majority in the land tag, the state parliament, or a governing0:34coalition led by the AFD.0:36That would make Saxony-Anhalt the first land controlled by the party.0:39Research found a conflicting reference from the Landeswaliter, the state chief0:44electoral official, listing 6 September, but both dates are retained as conflicting0:49accounts, with 7 September as the aired claim.0:52The platform centers on two powers German states hold directly: money and0:56curriculum.0:57On culture, the AFD is campaigning on national pride and proposes to reduce public1:02funding for art it describes as anti-German.1:04On education, it proposes schools focus less on Germany's Nazi-era history.1:09No specifics were detailed, no theater, museum, work, or budget line defined as1:14anti-German, no number of history hours to be cut, no textbook revision, no1:18examination change, and no order for how funding would be withdrawn.1:21Even without specifics, the levers are immediate for those who live under them.1:25Artists, theaters, museums, and independent projects that depend on land grants face1:29loss of support if their work is labeled anti-German, a term with wide discretionary1:34scope.1:34Teachers and students in history and civic education face a shift in what is taught1:38about national socialism, the Holocaust, and responsibility for the crimes of the1:42Third Reich, the core of post-war memory culture now required in Saxony-Anhaltz1:47schools.1:48Saxony-Anhaltz sits in Eastern Germany, governed from Magdeburg, where state1:52ministries control schools, cultural foundations, and broadcasting oversight.1:56That is why the party's legal status here matters so much.2:00German domestic intelligence, the Verfassungschutz, at state level the2:04Inlandsteenst.2:05classifies the AFD in Saxony Anhalt as Gesikert Rechsextremistisch, confirmed right2:10wing extremist.2:11The designation was first established in 2023, and was in place through 2026.2:16It is the formal assessment that the branch operates against the free democratic2:20basic order.2:21That classification underpins the Brandmauer, the firewall by which Germany's other2:25parties refuse cooperation with the AFD.2:27The contradiction is structural.2:30A party so classified would, if it wins, take direct authority over the very2:34institutions that oversee that classification, the State Interior Ministry and its2:38Domestic Intelligence Service, plus the schools, cultural foundations, and oversight2:42bodies it pledges to change.2:43That conflict is already sharp.2:45The AFD in Saxony Anhalt pledges to abolish or fundamentally overhaul the2:50Inlandsdienst.2:52State Interior Minister Zieschang and Verfassengschutz Chief Hallman have called the2:56plan little thought out and in part legally inadmissible.2:59In German, Weinigdurch Dacht and Taleweisse für Rechtlich Unsulesig, and reporting3:03said officials evoked darker historical precedents, with phrasing rendered as Duster3:07and Seiten and Don Veren Verviter by Einer Gestapo.3:10No verified plan was provided for how the extremist classification itself would3:15affect governance, whether surveillance, funding restrictions, civil service3:19implications or court challenges and no detailed responses from other parties or3:22voter coalitions to the specific cultural and historical proposals were detailed.3:26On polling, one report cited the AFD above 40% with a twenty-point lead and lead3:32candidate Ulrich Siegmund, also noting energy proposals including a solar moratorium3:37and return to coal.3:38But exact percentages and polling organizations could not be verified, the record3:42that will air states no additional verified polling, seat projections, or coalition3:47arithmetic was available to measure how close control is.3:50So the platform proposals were made as stated, but what would be cut?3:54What would no longer be taught?3:55How control would be achieved numerically in the Landtag, how the intelligence3:59service pledge could be carried out legally, and whether the firewall holds all4:03remain unanswered until the vote and the attempt to form a government in 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