Germany’s firewall was meant to hold the far right at bay. It may have done the reverse

AfD co-leaders Tino Chrupalla and Alice Weidel have a lot to smile about with their party riding high in the polls. Photograph: John MacDougall/AFP/Getty Images

In just over two weeks’ time, Saxony-Anhalt – home to historic timber-framed houses, the dramatic Harz mountains and the birthplace of Martin Luther – will hold what could prove one of the most significant state elections in Germany’s postwar history.

The vote, on 6 September, could see a far-right party whose local branch is officially classified by the country’s domestic intelligence service as “confirmed rightwing extremist” appoint a state premier and govern a state alone, for the first time.