Germany's AfD sparks school controversy ahead of Saxony-Anhalt vote

A woodwork teacher, Max Heckel, in Stendal, Saxony‑Anhalt, was formally warned for breaching rules that require teachers to stay politically neutral after he told a pupil he had not voted for the far‑right Alternative for Germany (AfD). The warning was followed by online abuse, threats of violence, car vandalism and verbal attacks from AfD politicians.

The incident has become a flashpoint as the state prepares for a regional election on Sept. 6, where the AfD is projected to win around 40 % of the vote, challenging the centre‑right CDU, which polls below 30 %. AfD candidate for state premier Ulrich Siegmund says the party will remove political influence from schools and keep lessons neutral. The party also secured an interim court order suspending a domestic security agency’s classification of the AfD as a “confirmed right‑wing extremist”, though the Saxony‑Anhalt branch remains listed as extremist by the BfV.

The dispute highlights broader tensions over democratic safeguards, the role of education in confronting Germany’s past, and the AfD’s ambition to form a regional government as a stepping stone to national power.