How the AfD Became Germany’s Main Opposition Party

When Elon Musk posted on X in 2024 that the only thing that could “save Germany” was the AfD, he was embracing a political force that has moved steadily to the far right since it was founded in 2013.

The nationalist party, whose name translates as Alternative for Germany, became the second-largest bloc in the country’s parliament after doubling its share of the vote in a February election. It still has little chance of governing for the foreseeable future because the established parties, and Chancellor Friedrich Merz, have kept it at arm’s length.