AfD threatens to withhold state funds from museums and theaters over 'anti-German' art

The Alternative for Germany plans to require artists and cultural institutions in Saxony-Anhalt to sign a pledge against contempt for German culture before receiving public subsidies.

Ahead of the September 6 state vote, the AfD is poised to win a majority in Saxony-Anhalt and has outlined a cultural agenda that ties public subsidies to a pledge of respect for German culture. Hans-Thomas Tillschneider, the party's cultural policy spokesperson, defined "anti-German art" as creations that refuse to be German, referencing a recent feminist staging of a German composer's opera. Institutions like the Bauhaus Foundation, the Kunstmuseum Magdeburg, and the puppet theater in Magdeburg fear that the new funding criteria could jeopardize their operations.

Critics, including Barbara Steiner of the Bauhaus Foundation and Annegret Laabs of the Kultur ist Vielfalt und Heimat initiative, warn that the policy threatens artistic freedom and undermines the region's cultural diversity. The AfD also proposes replacing the current "moderndenken" campaign with "deutschdenken," a slogan linked to a 1938 Hitler speech, further intensifying concerns about historical rhetoric. The party's stance also challenges Germany's Holocaust remembrance practices, calling them a "guilt complex" that hinders a stable national identity.