In the eastern German state of Saxony-Anhalt, the far-right Alternative for Germany party claimed its most consequential electoral victory yet on September 6, 2026, winning more seats than any rival while stopping just short of the threshold needed to govern alone. The result has forced a reckoning not only within Germany's fractured mainstream parties but across a continent already anxious about democratic erosion and foreign interference. History, as survivors and statesmen alike reminded the world in the hours that followed, has a way of returning through doors that were never fully closed.