In Berlin, 2026 opens on what one might politely describe as a familiar unease. The notion that Germany’s far right could take power in a federal state has not seemed this plausible since the end of the Second World War, that is, since the moment when everyone solemnly vowed that it would never happen again. Reassuring, isn’t it? In less than seven months, Saxony-Anhalt, a region of the former GDR, could experience its own modest brush with history in the regional elections of 6 September. Currently governed by a delicately balanced coalition of conservatives, social democrats, and liberals, the region sees Alternative for Germany hovering comfortably around 40 percent in the polls. Should the smaller parties fail to clear the five-percent threshold, the AfD could find itself forming a regional government, an unprecedented development since 1945, and one we were assured was impossible.