Germany built a ‘firewall’ so the far-right could never take power again. It just failed in Saxony-Anhalt

Alternative for Germany, or AfD, has established itself as a significant political force in the 13 years since its founding, but it has never been part of any state or federal government. That’s a result of what is often called a “firewall” against cooperation with the anti-immigrant, far-right party.

That firewall faces its biggest test after AfD won a landslide victory in Sunday’s election in the eastern German state of Saxony-Anhalt.

Germany’s mainstream parties have long said they would not work with Alternative for Germany, which is classified by Germany’s domestic intelligence agency as an extremist group in some regions of the country — including the eastern state of Saxony-Anhalt. Any dealing by mainstream parties with AfD is particularly sensitive in view of Germany’s Nazi past.

Many Germans had believed their country had developed an immunity to nationalism and assertions of racial superiority after confronting the horrors of its Nazi past through education and laws to outlaw persecution.

But as it turns out, that conviction was mistaken, and similar to voters across Europe and........

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