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Friedrich Merz is now on borrowed time. But that’s not why the AfD’s triumph is seismic | Jörg Lau

The Guardian UK Tuesday 08 September 2026, 04:00 UTC By Jörg Lau 1 min read
Key Points

The anti-fascist consensus about our Nazi past is fundamental to German democracy. But that, shockingly, is being shatteredAs shock at the scale of the far right’s resounding state-election victory in Germany reverberated on Sunday, not everybody was unhappy. Seconds after the first exit polls from Saxony-Anhalt were revealed, Donald Trump posted the results on his Truth Social platform, seemingly delighted by the devastation of the centrist-conservative Christian Democrats (CDU) and the...

The anti-fascist consensus about our Nazi past is fundamental to German democracy. But that, shockingly, is being shattered

As shock at the scale of the far right’s resounding state-election victory in Germany reverberated on Sunday, not everybody was unhappy.

Seconds after the first exit polls from Saxony-Anhalt were revealed, Donald Trump posted the results on his Truth Social platform, seemingly delighted by the devastation of the centrist-conservative Christian Democrats (CDU) and the surge of the far-right Alternative für Deutschland (AfD).

Jörg Lau is an international correspondent for the German weekly Die Zeit

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Friedrich Merz (PERSON) AfD (ORG) Jörg Lau (PERSON) Nazi (ORG) German (ORG) Germany (LOCATION) Saxony-Anhalt (ORG) Donald Trump (PERSON) Christian Democrats (ORG) Deutschland (LOCATION) Lau (PERSON)
Originally published by The Guardian UK Read original →

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