AfD in Saxony-Anhalt: The right-wing extremists and their stirrup holders

By David Muschenich, Gareth Joswig and Konrad Litschko

As a 19-year-old, he initially joined the Junge Union, but saw no future there and switched to the AfD 5 years later. In 2016 he entered the state parliament for the first time. Ran as the top candidate for the AfD and is known for constantly smiling, even when he announces cruel things. After the state election, Siegmund said at a press conference that arms were needed as an aid to a “remigration and deportation offensive”. Siegmund first received nationwide attention for his participation in the “remigration meeting” in Potsdam. His father benefited from the nepotism affair, among other things, from a job with AfD member of the Bundestag Thomas Korell with a salary of up to 7,725 euros per month. On Tiktok, Ulrich has more than 1 million followers and old neo-Nazi cadres in his immediate environment.

Mostly known for insulting expressions. Entered the state parliament in 2016 and has been parliamentary group leader since 2018. He was even the top candidate in the 2021 state election. Kirchner ended up in reports from the Office for the Protection of the Constitution because he spread the conspiracy theory of the “great exchange” and made racist comments. During an interview after the election, he only called BSW chairman Fabio De Masi “that half-Italian”.

The Islamic scholar is one of his party's agitators. The 48-year-old was a member of the right-wing extremist wing and spokesman for the Patriotic Platform. Both are officially dissolved today, and their ethnic positions are now mainstream in the party. Tillschneider co-founded the identity-related network One Percent, is a Pegida friend, Putin admirer and the proud owner of a Russian army coffee cup. He is also known for tirades against Islam and his annual “Prussian Festival”. He was a key contributor to the ultra-radical AfD election program. The federal government had “declared war on its own people,” he once said, so “we are waging war against this federal government.”

The 35-year-old real estate agent and former parliamentary managing director was at the center of the AfD nepotism affair: He employed 4 footballers from his own club, his wife works for the AfD parliamentary group, his 3 siblings and a brother-in-law work for AfD members of the Bundestag. Rausch is considered a mover and shaker in the “poker circle” around Siegmund, where positions are negotiated. Traveled to New York with his wife at taxpayer expense and set up a real estate company alongside his work as a member of parliament. He does not report any additional income and, according to his website, owns 176 apartments. Brags about good connections to the CDU and holds talks with the BSW. As the designated AfD state parliament president, he is a decisive force in unhinging democracy.

Shortly before he turned 30, Rau went back to university in 2012. However, he falsified his high school diploma and turned the average grade of 3.5 into a 1.0. He was expelled from the university for this forgery of documents. He tried unsuccessfully to take action against it before the administrative court: on the one hand, his girlfriend had sent the documents and, on the other hand, he was not “in control of his senses” due to his cocaine addiction, the Mitteldeutsche Zeitung quotes from the verdict. He had previously been convicted of several thefts. Rau later worked for the state parliamentary group, traveled to the USA with other AfD members and posed for a photo with President Donald Trump. He is also said to have been involved in a porn shoot and is also part of the party's internal poker clique.

An investigation is underway against the cattle breeder Simon Lansmann from Gardelegen for continuing the right-wing extremist association Artgemeinschaft, which was banned in 2023. This was a neo-Nazi esoteric sect that saw itself as the guardian of a Germanic race and gave itself its own “moral laws”. They want “similar choice of husband” as a “guarantee for similar children”. Most recently, Lansmann is said to have celebrated a solstice celebration on his farm with his new MdL colleague Sebastian Koch and former species community activists. A song by the Hitler Youth is said to have been sung there.

The 39-year-old posed with neo-Nazis in the “I love NS” shirt and “Nazi” T-shirt 10 years ago and completed combat training with the now disbanded Chemnitz neo-Nazi group Rechts Plenum. Nine years ago he became chairman of the AfD-Altmarkkreis. Most recently, he celebrated at a solstice celebration hosted by his AfD parliamentary group colleague Simon Lansmann, where a song by the Hitler Youth was sung. According to the Office for the Protection of the Constitution, Koch also took part in neo-Nazi “hero commemorations” and concerts by the neo-Nazi scene. On social media he raves about a “race war against our children” and the “cultural heritage” of migrants that makes them “severely misogynistic.” He also spreads the Wehrmacht's motto “Loyalty for Loyalty.” Weapons were also found at Koch's home during a recent search to investigate the continuation of the right-wing extremist community, and investigations are ongoing.

The doctor of economics has been in the state parliament since 2021 and is part of the so-called poker round. In the AfD election program he is considered the author of the “remigration chapter”. Internationally, he looks for role models for anti-immigrant policies and advocates “millions of deportations”. He used to be active in the Junge Alternative, was close to the ethnic Identitarian movement and was part of the AfD's Patriotic Platform.

The 77-year-old was formerly with the Stasi. He worked as a special officer for the GDR's secret police for twelve years. According to media reports, he was responsible for people who wanted to leave the GDR. He appears in public wearing a pin that shows the Russian and German flags. When he was nominated as a direct candidate, there were accusations that he had bought votes.

In the year the AfD was founded, he joined the AfD and was nicknamed “Porno-Ronny” within the party because he had previously tried his hand at being a porn actor. Nevertheless, he became a city councilor and vice-chairman of the regional association under the former regional boss André Poggenburg. In 2023, Kumpf ended up in the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution twice because, among other things, he called for “self-defense” against the peaceful sit-ins of the last generation.

In the party since 2014, in the state parliament since 2021, just re-elected as parliamentary group vice-president and part of the poker round. He used to work in the job center and the Magdeburg city administration. He wants more child support and no CO2 taxation or mandatory vaccinations. As AfD district leader, he wanted to bring party colleague Tillschneider to an anti-Islam lecture in Burg in 2016 - it was canceled after protests. In 2025 he traveled to New York with other AfD politicians at taxpayer expense. The Taxpayers' Association viewed this as a waste and there was "no apparent benefit". Nevertheless, he ultimately became head of the party's internal commission on the felt affair. Also in 2025, with the support of the CDU, he managed to permanently hang German flags on all buildings in Jerichower Land. The goal: to strengthen the feeling that as a German you belong to a “community of fate and faith”.

The trained chef and businessman has been in the AfD since 2015 and has been a replacement in the state parliament since 2018. He is a confidant of right-winger Tillschneider and wanted to travel with him to the Russian-occupied Donbass in Ukraine in 2022 - after criticism, he canceled the trip. In 2025, he praised on Platform X that the women's national team was playing “without a n*ger”. The Alliance for the Cosmopolitan Saale District wants to “drain it”.

Joined the AfD in 2016 and entered the Saxony-Anhalt state parliament for the first time in 2021. There, the trained financial specialist was, among other things, a member of the Finance Committee. Scharfenort is one of the first signatories of the pro-Russian “Stop the Sanctions” initiative and traveled to the USA with other AfD members from Saxony-Anhalt last year to meet with supporters of Trump's MAGA cult.

The master carpenter and hunter joined the AfD in 2017. The 50-year-old told the Mitteldeutsche Zeitung that the rescue of Greece, the withdrawal from nuclear energy and the acceptance of refugees had motivated him to do so. He wants to work to ensure that the condition of the Harz Forest improves. As a member of a right-wing extremist party, he had to give up his firearms license.

Not to be confused with Matthias Büttner (Stendal), who is 3 years younger but has the same name. In December 2016, there were allegations of rape against Staßfurt-Büttner by a former AfD speaker during a business trip. The criminal proceedings were discontinued – there was no sufficient suspicion. In the state parliament he had threatened to lead a mob of angry drivers armed with pitchforks and torches into the state parliament.

Is considered an old adversary of the former state leader André Poggenburg and a potential troublemaker of national unity. The 38-year-old didn't get a place on the state list, but moved in straight away. In 2024 he was expelled from the state parliamentary group because of an “irrevocably broken” relationship of trust. However, he was only given a warning during the party expulsion process and later reinstated. Will he vote for Siegmund in a secret vote? Even in AfD circles it is unclear. In 2017 he made headlines when he posted about Wolfgang Schäuble (CDU), Claudia Roth (Greens) and Karamba Diaby (SPD): "New presidency in the Bundestag: A wheelchair user, Claudia Roth from the Greens and an African from the SPD. Perfect reflection of the Federal Republic of Germany in 2017." In 2009 he also took part in a right-wing extremist march by the Young Country Team East Prussia, together with NPD people.

Not to be confused with Matthias Büttner from Staßfurt, who is three years older. Contrary to what is usual in the AfD faction, the two are not related to each other. But Büttner's parents were employed in the office of AfD member of the Bundestag Thomas Korell for 556 euros. Before his career as a member of parliament, Stendal-Büttner was Ulrich Siegmund's office manager. From 2017 to 2021 he was a member of the Bundestag, then he moved to the state parliament of Saxony-Anhalt.

Has been in the state parliament since 2021. Ran for Vice President of the State Parliament several times, but failed each time. Donated to the Junge Alternative, which was dissolved because of its right-wing extremism. His wife worked for the Bundestag member Jan Wenzel Schmidt for a while. Last year he was one of the AfD state parliament members who flew to the USA to meet Trump's MAGA supporters.

He is one of the new AfD members of the state parliament, but has been active in the party for a long time. In 2017 he was briefly positioned as a direct candidate for the Bundestag. But the AfD state leadership then removed him again because he allegedly acted against the board led by André Poggenburg.

Daughter of former state parliament member Margret Wendt and decorated her social media profile with a Russian flag. The 49-year-old is one of only two women in the group. She was also at the center of the relatives affair because she was said to have hired a whopping 16 employees in her constituency office, fake employment was obvious. Koppehel was nevertheless re-elected. She says little at citizen dialogues - except on the subject of animal protection.

Trained industrial mechanic, worked as a car salesman and sales representative and was once in the FDP. Then defected to the AfD in 2015. Despite the Russian war of aggression in 2025, Schröder celebrated Vladimir Putin's birthday in the Russian embassy, ​​but was also part of an AfD delegation that traveled to Trump's USA. Is a hunter and is interested in gun law. The 51-year-old described the journalist Tilo Jung as “the pinnacle of human and character depravity” and equated politicians with “illness”. Post selfies with Alice Weidel on Facebook, to the musical accompaniment of Gigi d'Agostino's foreigner-out anthem.

In March he was noticed in the state parliament by interjecting: "We only have to win once! You have to win every time!" The industrial mechanic describes himself as a trained miner. According to Spiegel, he used to be seen at neo-Nazi “funeral marches.” He joined the AfD in 2014 and has been in the state parliament since 2021. At the list party conference last year, he announced that the AfD would do away with “nepotism in this country”. When nepotism in his party became public a little later, he did not comment. But: In the state parliament, he financed more with tax money with 13 employees than the entire Green Party faction.

On the day of the state election, he posted on Facebook: “Today comes the reckoning for your actions.” Lassowski was previously active in local politics for the AfD. According to his own information, he has been in the party since January 21, 2019. On the market square in Haldensleben he organized demonstrations against anti-corona politics, war and all other German parties. He speaks out against “culturally alien skilled workers”. In the DFB team he prefers “Germans from Silesia and East Prussia” to a “motley team”.

Is the father of the prospective state parliament presidential candidate Tobias Rausch. The rest of his four children and his wife also work for the AfD. Papa-Rausch himself was the AfD's first deputy state parliament president in 2016. He came into office with 46 votes; the AfD then had 25 representatives in Saxony-Anhalt. However, he only chaired the meeting for seven minutes. He needed help several times during this time and tried to keep things in order, stammering. After an interruption, he resigned from office for “personal reasons”.

The 57-year-old from Magdeburg has been an AfD member since March 2013 and previously worked as a clerk at the LKA. He called for unemployed immigrants to be obliged to do “citizen work”, advocated the use of Palantir by the police and declared the Left and Greens to be the “parliamentary arm of Antifa”. In his Magdeburg constituency he lost in the direct election to the leftist Mustafa Groener.

This is not the first time he has entered the state parliament of Saxony-Anhalt: he was already a member of parliament from 2016 to 2021. At that time, he made it into national newspapers with an anti-Semitic Facebook post: the then Chancellor was a “Zionist US agent,” wrote Olenicak. Before the election, he told the Mitteldeutsche Zeitung that he wanted to stop the energy transition and arms deliveries to Ukraine.

According to his own statements, the heating installer used to vote for the CDU, but because of the asylum policy he went to the AfD. In 2021 he was the only AfD member to win a direct mandate. Before the current election, he stated that he had achieved nothing for his constituency because all AfD applications had been rejected. In 2024, he and his party friend Tillschneider wanted to march past the house of CDU district administrator Götz Ulrich with an anti-asylum demonstration - the route was changed after protests. Waehler was also part of the nepotism affair: his wife and daughter are said to have been employees of AfD members of the Bundestag.

At the beginning of the year, the AfD parliamentary group excluded him. Lieschke has been a member of the state parliament since 2016 and is said to have passed on internal party information a few months before the election. However, it is not that important to the AfD leadership. He belongs to the next faction again. It's been pretty inconspicuous so far.

At 35, he is the youngest AfD member of the Saxony-Anhalt state parliament. In the last electoral term he was already a member of the Education Committee. He tried several times to become vice president of the state parliament - but without success. In 2021 he became state chairman of the Junge Alternative in Saxony-Anhalt and remained so until the self-dissolution in 2025. His constituency office has the same address as AfD MP Jan Moldenhauer. According to MDR, no one can be found there. Members of the state parliament receive 2,300 euros per month as a capitation allowance, including for running a constituency office.

Belonged to the CDU from the 90s, but switched to the AfD in 2015. The reason: migration policy. He was active in local politics as a city councilor from 2019 and as local mayor from 2014. Before the election, he told the Mitteldeutsche Zeitung that he wanted to get involved in domestic politics in the state parliament.

Born in Leipzig, Schmirander became a member of the AfD in 2016. Before the election, according to Volksstimme, he was employed full-time by the AfD's state parliamentary group. He was not on the state list, but only ran as a direct candidate. In the state parliament he would like to work for internal security and de-bureaucratization.

Industrial mechanic and mechanical engineer, 52, joined the AfD in 2013 because he rejected the “hasty nuclear phase-out” and the Renewable Energy Act. Came to nationwide “fame” in 2016 with an interjection in the state parliament. When a left-wing MP stated that Morocco, Tunisia and Algeria were not safe countries of origin for homosexuals because they would face prison sentences there, Gehlmann interjected: “We should do that in Germany too!”

The 60-year-old master carpenter was in the SED during the GDR era, voted for the CDU after reunification and joined the AfD in 2015. Won 55.6 percent of first votes in his Eisleben constituency, the most in the country. Wrapped himself in a German flag during anti-corona protests and shared conspiracy theories about Bill Gates. Described Angela Merkel as “the greatest criminal and murderer Germany has ever had.” Posts contributions from the Russian embassy, ​​conspiracy ideology videos about alleged false flag actions in Russian attacks or speeches from Vladimir Putin - and of course from Björn Höcke.

Juliane Waehler is the daughter of Lothar Waehler, who is also an AfD MP. She is an employee of the AfD-affiliated Deutschlandkurier. There, she said in a video that her main concern was that her children were safe and not indoctrinated. She also runs the podcast “Scharf Rechts”, spreads “remigration” slogans and was at the “Remigration Congress” of the right-wing extremist Identitarians in Porto in May 2026, where she posed with the Identitarian pioneer Martin Sellner. Before winning her mandate, Waehler was employed by AfD state leader and member of the Bundestag Martin Reichardt.

Is new in the state parliament. The 40-year-old likes to post horror reports on social media with sometimes AI-generated right-wing radical music, in which lines are sung like: "Hypocrites, you disgust me with your dirty morals. Hypocrites, I'll spit it out!", "Germany finally wake up!" or “Governed by idiots!”

The qualified engineer and ex-CDU member won a direct AfD mandate in 2016. At the time, he explained that the AfD “understood how to address voters’ concerns in connection with the refugee crisis.” In the same year he signed the “Erfurt Resolution”, the manifesto of the ethnic AfD wing. In the state parliament he complained that “millions of uneducated people and people with no culture were being brought into the country”. In Halle, Raue is trying to prevent an Islamic center: You have to “enforce your own culture.” Anyone who comes from abroad and wants to build their own cultures is “highly unwelcome”. Raue wants to link additional family support to the fact that one parent has German citizenship.

The 35-year-old facility manager for building cleaners, whose parents immigrated from Russia, only joined the AfD at the end of 2023. He sits on the state board of Generation Germany. Backmund wants the judiciary to take greater action to increase security and also deport migrants who are not integrated. During the election campaign, he posted on He wants to withdraw funding from democratic alliances like Saxony-Anhalt, which is open to the world, and “drain the left-wing swamp”. On Tiktok he spread: “Remigration is a promise.” In Halle he trains at the Gladiator Fight Academy, which is considered a right-wing meeting place.

The orthopedic mechanic advocates local jobs and “maintenance of tradition”. He calls the structural change in his region “precipitous”. According to his own information, he helped organize the Kyffhäuser meeting in Saxony-Anhalt in 2018, a meeting of the radical AfD wing that has since been dissolved. According to the Mitteldeutsche Zeitung, during the election campaign there was a miniature version of Jonas with a chainsaw in his hand on Jonas' information stands.

Is considered a moderate AfD politician in the Dessau-Roßlau city council. However, he worked there on the parliamentary group board with Joachim and Laurens Nothdurft, among others. Both were formerly active neo-Nazis, active in the banned Homeland Loyalty German Youth and the NPD. That doesn't seem to bother Ratzmann.