The winner of Saxony-Anhalt’s election night, Ulrich Siegmund, is more a man of contact than an ideologue.
Before entering the regional parliament in Magdeburg at the age of 26 in 2016, this Heidelberg-born man, now 36, had completed specialized training in the retail sector, focusing on selling interior fragrances.
That explains the very simple tone of his victory speech, which boils down to condensing into a few metaphors and statements the ideologically dense program of more than 155 pages adopted in the spring in Magdeburg, translated and commented on in full at this link, while proclaiming the “historic” dimension of the evening and apologizing for the delay of his speech caused by the substantial number of “selfies.”
Never had the far right in Germany enjoyed so many votes since World War II. To explain this success one must understand the internal division of labor within the party. The AfD candidate, whose TikTok account is one of the most popular on the German political scene, delegated the ideological dimension of the program to Hans-Thomas Tillschneider, a university professor of Islam born in Timișoara, Romania, founder of the Patriotische Plattform in 2014 and a close friend of Björn Höcke, focusing on a simple objective: to present a more favorable image of the regional AfD faction, which the Office for the Protection of the Constitution had classified as “extremist.”
It is this double discourse that triumphed at the polls. With nearly 44% of the votes (our tally is updated live here), the AfD has more than doubled its 2021 result, leaving far behind the CDU, which fell from 37.1% to just under 20%.
If the bet paid off, a new European far-right political laboratory opens today in Germany. In Saxony-Anhalt, where the far-right DVU had already won 12.9% of the vote as early as 1998, lies at Schnellroda, in the Saale district, the domain of Götz Kubitschek, which served as the seat of the Institute for State Policy (Institut für Staatspolitik) until its dissolution in 2024 and houses the Antaios publishing house. A cradle of the Gramscian metapolitics of the New Right, which aspires to seize cultural hegemony before taking power. And it was, moreover, Tillschneider who, in 2019, on the occasion of the Bauhaus centenary in Weimar (although it had moved to Dessau), had his parliamentary group submit a motion condemning the modernist school as an “impasse” in architecture, the origin of the vast housing estates of East Germany.
In plain terms, unlike other radical right-wing movements in Europe that aspire to govern, in Germany the far right openly aims for a cultural revolution. The Magdeburg program, which presupposes a “180-degree turn” in memory politics, according to Björn Höcke’s wording in Dresden in 2017, will thus find in this Land — the land of Luther, Wittenberg, and Dessau — its first field of application, with hegemony over public broadcasting and education as the immediate objectives.
Ulrich Siegmund’s Victory Address, September 6, Magdeburg
Our “Vision 2026” has become reality, we have written history, dear friends.
I apologize for still being a little late; I had to take selfies with ZDF staff, that is also why we might be arriving a bit late…
(Laughter)
Dear friends, this evening is historic. We have written history, we are taking back control of our country.
It starts here in Saxony-Anhalt!
(Applause)
Forty-five percent plus X! And what a goal, it wasn’t just realistic, it was exactly what the people here wanted to see.
This is going to be a shake-up across Germany. That is what we saw tonight in every interview, of course some faces were puzzled, but we also saw that this is not only about Saxony-Anhalt, it’s a signal for all of Germany, because we have finally found ourselves, we are reclaiming Germany, and it’s a sign that runs through all of Germany, dear friends. And now, what happens in the coming days, obviously we have a mandate to govern, obviously, as democrats we are always capable of extending a hand, if someone in this Landtag, a group or a deputy, wants to work with us to solve the problems of our state.
However, and this is decisive, this victory is an act of trust from the people of this Land, and we will honor that trust.
We will not bow down, we will not abandon our values, we will never become like those who were just punished today.
We are the Alternative for Germany (applause). And that is why, whatever happens in the coming hours and days, we are on the right track. The path we have followed, with the “for the people, by the people” perspective, is the one that has led us to success, and we will continue on it.
This path begins on September 6, 2026 in Saxony-Anhalt, anything is possible, dear friends!
(Applause)
I would like to thank from the bottom of my heart, not only as a politician, but as Ulrich Siegmund, those who made this victory possible, supporters of every kind, colleagues, friends, we have proven in recent months that no matter the headwinds, the misinformation, we have shown cohesion, we did not let ourselves be divided. We will continue on this path. It was a team effort! We did it together, dear friends!
(Applause)
That is why I would be pleased for some representatives to join me on stage. I am pleased to welcome our chairwoman Dr. Alice Weidel, thank you for your support, Alice!
(Alice Weidel steps onto the stage)