Key facts
- Germany's AfD party is targeting the Bauhaus design school.
- The AfD is using Bauhaus in its cultural election campaign.
- The campaign is ahead of state elections in Saxony-Anhalt.
- The AfD criticizes Bauhaus for being 'deracinated'.
- The AfD advocates for a 'patriotic cultural policy'.
Germany's far-right party, the Alternative for Germany (AfD), has made the historic Bauhaus design school a focal point of its cultural campaign in the lead-up to state elections in Saxony-Anhalt. The AfD's strategy involves criticizing Bauhaus, an internationally renowned movement and school of design, architecture, and art, for what the party deems its 'deracinated' character. In its place, the AfD advocates for a 'patriotic cultural policy,' seeking to redefine national identity and historical narratives through its electoral platform. This approach positions cultural heritage as a key battleground in the political contest, reflecting the party's broader agenda to influence public discourse on German identity and values. The AfD's targeting of Bauhaus suggests an effort to appeal to voters by invoking a sense of national tradition and by challenging modernist or internationalist cultural influences, which they associate with a loss of distinct German identity. The campaign in Saxony-Anhalt is thus intertwined with a larger cultural debate initiated by the AfD, aiming to reshape perceptions of German history and culture to align with their political ideology.