After the state election: Volunteers want to secure public data in Saxony-Anhalt

In Saxony-Anhalt, a party classified as right-wing extremist is about to take power. The “Safeguarding Research and Culture” project now wants to secure data as a precautionary measure and is calling for help. Similar data rescue campaigns from the USA are a model.

Magdeburg on October 6th: Demonstrators gathered on the cathedral square for the first session of the new state parliament. – All rights reserved: IMAGO / dts news agency

With the projecthttps://safeguar.de/src_sachsen-anhalt/">SafeguardingResearch and Culture (SRC)Volunteers want to secure public data from Saxony-Anhalt. The reason is the victory of the AfD, which is classified as right-wing extremist, in the state elections at the beginning of September and the prospect of an AfD government. The fear: Relevant content could disappear from the Internet, even if there are no known plans to do so yet.

“We see information on government and authority websites at risk, as well as the data of state-owned companies,” the initiative writes on its website. “In addition, there are the (cultural) institutions and initiatives whose work is at risk due to the funding cuts that have already been announced.”

According to its own website, SRC was founded in the context of Trump's election victory in January 2025. The historian is behind ithttps://orcid.org/0000-0002-7091-0283">HenrikSchönemann.

SRC is not the first project of this kind. Also in thehttps://www.sucho.org/">Ukraine, inhttps://savehkonline.org/">Hong Kongand thehttps://www.datarescueproject.org/">USAHundreds of volunteers around the world have collected public data and protected it from loss. According to its own information, SRC has already been involved in securing hundreds of terabytes of research data and archived websites in the USA due to numerous government data sets following Donald Trump's re-electionhttps://www.theguardian.com/us-news/ng-interactive/2026/aug/18/trump-fed...deleted or changed.Among other things, health, environmental and educational data are affected, but also information on topics such as gender and sexual identity.

Safeguard cultural and scientific heritage

SRC announced last week that it would also be active in Saxony-Anhalt. On the one hand, the initiative wants to systematically archive government and authority websites. Public information should remain accessible and comprehensible, even if content is later changed or removed.

On the other hand, the initiative offers threatened institutions, projects or initiatives decentralized storage of their digital materials. In this way, SRC wants to archive endangered data and keep it publicly accessible, even in the event that initiatives have to stop their work or funding is lost.

“Together we can ensure that our cultural, intellectual and scientific heritage exists in multiple copies and in multiple places, and that no single institution or group of institutions can make it disappear completely,” the initiative writes in Englishhttps://safeguarding-research.discourse.group/about#fn2">ontheir website.

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https://netzpolitik.org/2025/digitale-buecherverbrennung-diese-menschen-...People are saving data from Trump censorship

Anyone interested can help

SRC is therefore calling for help. Interested parties can use an anonymous form to suggest websites for archiving. The initiative also asks affected institutions and projects in Saxony-Anhalt to be made aware of the support offer and to share the call.

Yesterday, Tuesday, the newly elected state parliament in Magdeburg met for the first time. With votes from BSW and apparently also individual CDU members, parliament hashttps://www.tagesschau.de/inland/innenpolitik/magdeburg-afd-landtagsprae...AfD state parliament president elected.

The AfD won the state electionshttps://www.landtag.sachsen-anhalt.de/alle-dossiers/landtagswahl-am-6-se...percent of votes, but three seats are missing for an absolute majority. In hershttps://afd-regierungprogramm.de">Election programthe AfD announces an authoritarian state restructuring. For example, the state center for political education should be abolished and replaced by a “state institute for state political education and cultural identity”. A government is still pending.

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web address: https://netzpolitik.org/2026/nach-der-landtagswahl-freiwillige-wollen-oeffentliche-daten-in-sachsen-anhalt-securen/Author/Group: Carla RochelTopics: Netactivismfeed date: Wednesday, October 7, 2026 - 4:08 p.m