Saxony-Anhalt after the AfD win: between homesickness, emigration and worry
Weeks after the state election, it is still unclear who will govern. A ZDF report shows how the result shapes daily life, from a village inn in the southern Harz to a classroom in Eisleben.
Archive image · Photo: Dguendel / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 3.0 (cropped and resized)
In the state election in early September, the AfD became the strongest party in Saxony-Anhalt with 43.8 percent, and who will govern the state remains open. A new ZDF report featuring YouTuber and author Alexander Prinz shows how the result is shaping daily life. Since reunification, the state has lost more than a quarter of its population through emigration and a birth deficit.
Hanka Rackwitz, once on TV formats such as the German version of "I'm a Celebrity... Get Me Out of Here!", has taken over the "Dorfkrug" inn in Freist in the Mansfeld-Südharz district. She is staying in the east "because I belong here", she says. Christiana L. from Dessau moved to Stuttgart in 2001 because she found work there; the election result reinforced her decision, she says. "A large part of my family votes AfD, I'm quite sure of that."
Tutor and musician Florian E. from Eisleben worries about queer students and children with a migrant background: "I find it somehow frightening and frustrating." He wants the classroom to be a "safe space for everyone". The two-part documentary "Heimweh – Sachsen-Anhalt mit Alexander Prinz" has been available online since 25 October and airs on ZDF on 29 October.