Germany stands at a historical inflection point more than eighty years in the making. In the eastern state of Saxony-Anhalt, the far-right Alternative for Germany party is positioned to enter government for the first time since the post-war consensus deliberately sealed such movements from power. The election tests whether the informal but durable cordon sanitaire — the agreement among mainstream parties never to govern alongside the far right — can hold against the pressures of economic anxiety, demographic change, and a decade of steadily growing AfD support in the former East. What happens