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. They a…