Oliver Schmidtke on the AfD and Germany’s Democratic Firewall

EUCAnet Co-Lead and Mnemonic Democracy Principal Investigator Oliver Schmidtke has recently contributed to CBC News coverage of the growing electoral strength of Germany’s far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD).

In a CBC interview examining the AfD’s prospects in the eastern state of Saxony-Anhalt, Schmidtke discussed the political and economic uncertainties contributing to the party’s growing support and the potential consequences of an AfD-led state government. While Germany’s constitutional framework places important limits on radical political change, he emphasized the risk that participation in government could further normalize the AfD and strengthen its influence within Germany’s federal political system.

Schmidtke was also quoted in CBC News on September 7 in an analysis of the AfD’s rise and the wider international significance of the weakening political “firewall” that has traditionally prevented cooperation with the far right.

These developments speak directly to questions at the heart of the Mnemonic Democracy project: how democratic norms and historical memory shape responses to the far right, and how established boundaries of democratic legitimacy can be challenged and gradually redefined.

Read the latest CBC News article (Sept. 7, 2026) | Read the earlier CBC feature | Listen to the CBC podcast.