AfD's Electoral Surge in Germany Echoes 1930s Nazi Rise, Doppiozero Analysis Warns

In a commentary published by Doppiozero on 25 September 2026, Piero Salabè and Anita Romanello argue that the Alternative für Deutschland (AfD), a xenophobic party that systematically relativizes the Nazi past, has achieved a historic electoral triumph in Germany. The party came close to an absolute majority in Saxony-Anhalt and became the leading party in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern. The authors describe the disaster as having materialized, though not yet completely. They note that the voting trend of the past three years unsettlingly recalls the democratic ascent of the National Socialists in the 1930s. While the growth of the far right is now a constant across Europe, with radical parties either participating in or leading governments, as in Italy, the German case alarms because of its unprecedented proportions. In the Saxony-Anhalt elections, the AfD surpassed the 40 percent threshold, a level never reached by European far-right leaders such as Giorgia Meloni, Marine Le Pen, Nigel Farage, or Santiago Abascal. The article questions whether Germany truly stands on the brink, framing the outcome as a dilemma in which nothing repeats but history rhymes.