00:00What we've learned from history is that we've learned nothing.
00:03I'm pleased with the result. For me, it signals a fresh start.
00:07We've had terrible experiences and we're afraid that these experiences will become more frequent.
00:14Just under 44% for the far-right AFD.
00:18In Saxony-Anhalt, the party achieved its best result yet.
00:21And for the first time, its candidate could become state premier.
00:25While hundreds of thousands celebrate the AFD's success,
00:28others wonder if they still have a future in Saxony-Anhalt.
00:32We travel across the state and meet people who are experiencing the same election in completely different ways.
00:38An entrepreneur, an AFD supporter and a doctor from Saudi Arabia.
00:45It's Monday morning. The election results came in just a few hours ago and Jürgen Sperlich is upset.
00:51He's a business owner in Skopau in southern Saxony-Anhalt.
00:55His company recycles metal waste.
00:58Anyone who works here, surrounded by noise and dust all day long.
01:02Not a job many people want to do.
01:04Sperlich relies quite heavily on workers with migrant backgrounds.
01:09I employ 10 Syrians. That's 25% of my workforce.
01:13And they're incredibly hardworking.
01:14I've joked that they're my Arab Prussians.
01:17They're punctual and industrious.
01:19So this whole re-migration thing just can't be right.
01:24Deportation from the first minute is one of the AFD's election pledges in Saxony-Anhalt.
01:30Just a few weeks ago, Sperlich lost one of his employees.
01:34The man was detained when visiting a government agency and immediately put on a plane.
01:40Word of this spreading among his other employees as well.
01:47I'm not afraid for myself because I'm German, by naturalization.
01:51I have my job, but I'm a bit afraid for the others.
01:54That's how I feel about my mother, for example.
01:57She doesn't work and she's almost 60 now.
02:00Yeah, it's possible that my mother might have to leave and then I'd have to go back too.
02:05Jürgen Sperlich doesn't think much of the AFD more generally either.
02:10He sees the party as a threat to the entire state.
02:14They are to a large extent confirmed right-wing extremists.
02:18We should have learned from history.
02:19But I quote my wife, what we've learned from history is that we haven't learned anything.
02:23So here we are again, running after another saviour without any critical questioning.
02:29Silvio Beck is one of the 43.8% who voted for the AFD.
02:35The election is also a topic of conversation with his neighbor.
02:41What do you think? Are you satisfied?
02:44Yeah, I think it's okay.
02:46Now we have to see what comes next.
02:49To be honest, I didn't think the AFD would get that high a percentage.
02:53I guess they would maybe get 38 or 40%, but not this much.
02:58In that case, I would have been disappointed.
03:03The neighbor didn't vote for the AFD.
03:06But both men agree, something has to change.
03:09Time and again, we hear exactly that.
03:12People want to teach the current state and federal governments a lesson.
03:16And then there are issues on which Beck finds the AFD convincing,
03:21such as its pro-Russia stance.
03:25We've sent so many billions to Ukraine.
03:28We really need to take stock first.
03:30What has it achieved?
03:31Where did the money go?
03:32We need to somehow force both sides to the negotiating table.
03:36But that's not possible right now with all these sanctions packages against Russia.
03:40We're really just hurting ourselves with that.
03:43After all, we have that great natural gas and the pipeline infrastructure.
03:46I think that once the war there has settled down and peace has been restored,
03:50we should start buying gas from Russia again.
03:54Silvio Beck retired early.
03:56The 63-year-old has plenty of time for his hobbies, such as cycling.
04:01He says he's doing very well financially, but fears that could change.
04:06And he, too, is concerned about the issue of migration.
04:12I'm expecting that when it comes to this illegal migration,
04:15the government will get rid of all these pull factors.
04:18People who are truly skilled workers and are currently working here,
04:22I don't think the AFD would have any objection to that.
04:25No one has ever said that we should send them back
04:27because then our health care system would probably collapse.
04:33The AFD, in fact, talks about culturally alien skilled workers
04:39who pose a security risk.
04:45The AFD has a bit of a point there, you know.
04:47We've never had a problem with the Asians.
04:52Are they also culturally alien?
04:55Yeah, but it's more meant to the Arab direction.
05:01Beck says he used to vote for the conservative CDU,
05:04but he feels the party has broken too many campaign promises.
05:08A problem that the AFD doesn't have,
05:10since it has never held office at state or federal level.
05:14The AFD's nationalistic rhetoric frightens many people,
05:17and the Saxony-Anhalt chapter of the party
05:20has been classified as confirmed far-right extremist
05:23by the region's domestic intelligence agency.
05:26But that doesn't bother Silvio Beck.
05:29That doesn't convince me.
05:31To me, that's just a fairy tale,
05:32and the domestic intelligence agency, as we all know,
05:35reports directly to the Ministry of Interior.
05:38I'm an AFD sympathizer myself,
05:40and no one needs to be afraid of me.
05:42Most of the people here who voted for the AFD
05:44and the party officials I've met and spoken with,
05:47I can guarantee they're all Democrats.
05:52However, many people in Saxony-Anhalt are afraid.
05:55We see this time and again on our journey through the state.
05:59They refuse to be interviewed
06:01because they say they fear repercussions
06:03if the AFD forms the government.
06:06Saleh bin Salman is one of those who want to talk.
06:10He has been working as a neurosurgeon
06:12at the hospital in Stendhal for 13 years.
06:15As we are filming him, an elderly woman interrupts.
06:21We should be glad that we still have so many of them.
06:24Hopefully, they won't all get frightened and scared away now.
06:28Is that something you are afraid of, I ask?
06:32Yes, I have already heard
06:34that also students are afraid.
06:38Bin Salman says the hospital is like his home.
06:42He adds,
06:42the well-being of my patients is my highest priority.
06:45How does he feel about the fact
06:47that about half of his patients
06:48could have voted for a party
06:50that views people from other cultures as a threat?
06:53I don't think these people actually read the election program.
06:58If they really had read it,
07:00they would have had to think twice
07:02or even three times.
07:04Of course, that's a serious accusation.
07:06And the patients themselves
07:08have to decide whether I,
07:11my other colleagues,
07:13the healthcare professionals who are here,
07:15who aren't from Germany,
07:17if we are really a threat.
07:25Bin Salman was born and raised in Saudi Arabia
07:28and his children and wife in particular
07:30are repeatedly subjected to racist insults
07:33and, in some cases,
07:35even physical attacks.
07:36That is why he views the AFD's strong showing
07:39with particular concern.
07:43We've been through some terrible experiences.
07:46On the street, of course,
07:47especially with my children and my wife.
07:50And we are afraid that these experiences
07:51will become more frequent,
07:53so that fear is always there.
07:55That is why I always keep my cell phone
07:57with me in my pocket at work,
07:59just in case something happens.
08:03The hospital would not let us film in sight,
08:05but the management informed us
08:07that 120 of its 800 employees
08:10come from abroad.
08:12Saleh Bin Salman says
08:13some of his colleagues
08:14are considering leaving the state.
08:16For him, that's out of the question.
08:20I love Stendhal
08:22and I would like to stay in Stendhal
08:23and to die here too.
08:25Three people with very different perspectives
08:28on the election
08:29in a state that is more divided
08:32than ever
08:32after the AFD's historic win.
08:36I love Stendhal and I love Stendhal.
08:38I love Stendhal.
08:40I love Stendhal.
08:43I love Stendhal.
08:44I love Stendhal.
08:44I love Stendhal.
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