AfD leader Tino Chrupalla defended a political appearance in Dessau-Roßlau, during which he and AfD’s top candidate for Saxony-Anhalt, Ulrich Siegmund, sang the former DDR national anthem. Speaking to RTL and ntv on Wednesday, Chrupalla stated that the singing, alongside the invocation of “Deutschland einig Vaterland,” aimed to highlight the optimistic spirit thriving in Saxony-Anhalt. He argued that the song “Auferstanden aus Ruinen” precisely encapsulates the hopes of the citizens. Chrupalla stressed that their aim is to ensure that no further ruins are created-such as those in areas with decommissioned nuclear power plants or other critical infrastructure-and therefore believes that any subsequent, fabricated scandal surrounding the event is unnecessary.
The political rally quickly generated controversy. The anthem had previously been sung at the event hosted by comedian Uwe Steimle. Furthermore, Thorsten Frei, head of the Chancellor’s Office for the CDU, described the appearance on Wednesday as “extremely strange.”
