A podcast comment, a resignation, and a reminder of Germany's historical duty
What the AfD leader in Saxony-Anhalt framed as philosophy, others saw as a dangerous taboo breach. Who draws the line?
Dear Reader,
As next year’s state election in eastern Saxony-Anhalt looms, the Alternative for Germany (AfD)’s leading candidate, Ulrich Siegmund, has sparked a firestorm.
In a recent Politico podcast, he described the Nazi era as a “low point” in German history, but refused to call the Holocaust “the worst crime in human history,” arguing that he “cannot process the whole of mankind.”
When the podcast host asked him about a campaign event where an MC called out “Sieg!” and the crowd replied “Mund!” — noting its similarity to the “Sieg Heil” chant — the politician insisted it was simply an innocent use of his name.
Siegmund, a 35-year-old “rising star” of the AfD, complained that a “language police” now dictates how people should talk about the past. Modern efforts to ban phrases once used by the Nazis are “completely overexaggerated,” he added.
In a country highly sensitive to any attempts to relativize the crimes of the Nazi era, his comments drew immediate and widespread outrage. But Christian Dorst, deputy parliamentary leader in Brandenburg’s BSW, defended him on social media.
Dorst wrote on X that one could interpret Siegmund’s words as a “precursor to Holocaust denial,” but added that a different interpretation was also possible. He quoted Socrates’ “I know that I know nothing” to signal that he too cannot comprehend the entire scope of human history.
The response was swift: Dorst resigned the very next day. BSW leadership said his increasingly combative role as a social-media commentator was incompatible with his official duties — even though Dorst insisted he never questioned the Holocaust’s singularity.
BSW — the anti-woke, economically left-wing party founded last year by Sahra Wagenknecht — is currently the junior partner in Brandenburg’s fragile coalition with the SPD.
What has the reaction been?
Siegmund’s comments sparked indignation across the political spectrum. Josef Schuster, President of the Central Council of Jews in Germany, condemned the statements as “complete shamelessness,” warning they could signal sympathy for the Nazi era.
He added that such relativisation of Nazi crimes “must awaken democrats” and called the AfD a “danger to our open society.”
The centre-right CDU joined the criticism. “Anyone who trivialises the Holocaust is distorting history and inciting hatred against Jews,” said General Secretary Carsten Linnemann.
Inside the AfD, reactions were divided. The national leadership issued a distancing statement, declaring simply: “The Holocaust is the worst crime against humanity.”
Yet others defended Siegmund. Rüdiger Lucassen, the party’s defence policy spokesperson, said the podcast question amounted to a “demand for confession” — pressure to recite a prescribed moral judgment — and expressed support for Siegmund’s response.
Bild noted that the episode was reminiscent of former AfD leader Alexander Gauland’s infamous 2018 remark calling Nazi crimes a Vogelschiss (“bird droppings”) in the sweep of German history, which likewise sparked nationwide outrage.
What happens next?
Neither Siegmund nor Dorst is expected to face legal consequences. Their statements do not meet the threshold for Holocaust denial or incitement to hatred (Volksverhetzung), both criminal offences in Germany.
Still, Siegmund’s comments may alienate more moderate voters uneasy with a candidate who deliberately touches taboo terrain. But the overall damage is likely limited.
The most recent INSA poll puts the AfD at roughly 40 percent in Saxony-Anhalt, giving the party a realistic shot at dominating the next Landtag after the 2026 state election on September 6th. With such strong support — especially in the east — some voters may not be deterred by provocative rhetoric.
And if Gauland is a precedent, Siegmund may even benefit internally: Gauland’s scandal ultimately strengthened his standing among AfD loyalists, who viewed him as challenging political correctness and Germany’s “culture of guilt,” as well as defending unrestricted speech.
Siegmund is already very popular and social-media-savvy, positioning himself on his TikTok channel Mutzurwahrheit90 — which has hundreds of thousands of followers — as someone who challenges the status quo.
Still, today’s AfD as a whole is more fragmented and strategically cautious. The leadership — currently polling as Germany’s strongest party nationwide at about 26 percent — moved quickly to distance itself from Siegmund. The party knows it needs to soften its public image ahead of key elections, even if it can afford to be more confrontational in the eastern states where it enjoys the strongest support.
Rachel’s take
I think most morally intact people would agree that genocide is atrocious, regardless of who commits it or who suffers. Siegmund and Dorst did not dispute that.
It’s not clear that Siegmund — who grew increasingly defensive as the interviewer pressed him — was consciously attempting to normalise Nazi crimes through his language. But his remarks unmistakably challenged a cornerstone of Germany’s post-war identity and remembrance culture, which he dismissed as overly preoccupied with “what happened 80 years ago.” He even criticised mandatory school visits to former concentration camps, a long-established element of German civic education.
But in Germany, the Holocaust is not simply one atrocity among many; it is foundational to the country’s post-war constitutional identity. It should be recognised as singularly horrific, not treated as an event whose place in history can be concretely quantified. Such debates may have academic merit, but in public life they can inadvertently dilute the gravity of something unspeakable — especially as the last survivors pass away, historical memory fades, and antisemitism in Germany rises sharply.
This is why I think Dorst’s decision to step down, and the AfD leadership’s public distancing from Siegmund, were both respectful and responsible choices. Public officials in Germany are expected to uphold both legal and ethical standards. By defending Siegmund’s comments, even while framing them philosophically, Dorst exposed both himself and his party to political and moral scrutiny. Stepping down can therefore be seen as taking responsibility and preventing further harm.
I do not see Germany’s remembrance culture as a “culture of guilt” but rather as a culture of not forgetting something so uniquely terrible that it resists comparison — particularly in the country where it was perpetrated.
Last week’s poll result: Will the Merz government survive until the next regular election?
Yes - 27%
No - 73%
News in Brief
👴 On Monday, a group of around 20 top economists issued a public warning, urging the government to scrap its controversial pension package. They argue it jeopardises long-term fiscal stability by locking in a 48% Haltelinie — a guaranteed minimum pension level that would force contribution rates sharply upward as Germany ages — and by expanding the costly Mütterrente (mothers’ pension). The economists say the reform fails to address deeper issues such as demographic change and weak productivity growth. Meanwhile, tensions inside the coalition are rising: the CDU/CSU is pushing ahead despite resistance from the Junge Union, a rift that could trigger a serious political crisis if sufficient coalition lawmakers rebel in the Bundestag.
🇿🇦 This week Chancellor Friedrich Merz is making yet another high-profile appearance as the so-called Außenkanzler (“Foreign Chancellor”) at the G20 Summit in South Africa. While not an official German title, the term has come into common media usage to emphasise that Merz is increasingly positioning himself as a mediator in global conflicts — especially in the absence of leaders like Trump and Xi — even as contentious domestic issues remain unresolved. These sentiments were magnified when Merz joked in Johannesburg that the contentious pension reform fight “doesn’t play any role here. I can guarantee you that.”
💰 Germany spends 41 percent of its total government budget on welfare payments — more than even the Nordic welfare states — according to a study published this week by the German Economic Institute (IW). Nearly half of that goes to propping up the pension system. At the same time, the report warned against further growth in social spending, calling it a risk to fiscal sustainability. It also highlighted significant structural imbalances: high administrative costs (now 11 percent of total spending) and very low public investment (just 6.2 percent), while education spending is among the lowest in the OECD.
Members’ Corner
Is this Germany's 'Stop the Steal'?
Did you know the German election result is being challenged — and that the challenge could upend the balance of power in the Bundestag? In our latest members-only newsletter, we unpack how the Bündnis Sahra Wagenknecht is contesting the vote. Led by a charismatic culture-war crusader, the BSW has more than a little in common with the MAGA movement. Are they pushing a German-style “Stop the Steal” narrative to stay in the headlines — or do they genuinely have a case?
Germany’s New Sonderweg
Germany’s long “Sonderweg” — a tradition of order over liberalism — still shapes its politics. President Steinmeier’s call for a wehrhafte Demokratie, able to bar extremists from office, reflects a growing belief that democracy must be defended from voters themselves. But does this revival of rule-bound discipline risk repeating an old pattern: a system that trusts order over freedom, and loses both?
Recommendations:
Handpicked Berlin - tech, startup and career news for Berlin
Kaffee+Kuchen - musings on expat life in Germany
20% Berlin - local Berlin news in English
Share The German Review with friends to win a free subscription
Sincerely,
Rachel Stern