The Alternative for Germany (AfD) party, having won 44 percent of the vote in Saxony-Anhalt, plans a cultural overhaul that critics compare to Nazi-era policies, targeting institutions like the Bauhaus Foundation in Dessau. AfD leaders, including co-author Hans-Thomas Tillschneider, advocate for “patriotic” art and reject multicultural influences, claiming the Bauhaus lacks “national roots” and was “non-German.” Artistic directors across the state, many reliant on public funding, are mobilizing to resist these changes, warning that cultural control enables ideological infiltration. Barbara Steiner, director of the Bauhaus Foundation, stated the AfD understands culture as a tool to shape minds.

The Saxony-Anhalt AfD chapter has been classified as right-wing extremist by German federal intelligence, and its lead candidate declined to judge whether the Holocaust was humanity’s worst crime. Historians like Elizabeth Otto note the party’s rhetoric mirrors Nazi language from 1933, while national culture minister Wolfram Weimer called the AfD a direct continuation of Nazis regarding the Bauhaus. A petition supporting the school has gathered nearly 4,000 signatories.

The AfD rejects Nazi comparisons but echoes them in its platform, seeking to end Germany’s “guilt complex” and celebrate prewar history.