Dr Oliver Hartwich: Shades of 1933 in German state elections

On Sunday, Germany experienced a political earthquake. For the first time since 1933, a far-right party, the Alternative for Germany (AfD), became the largest party in a state election. In Thuringia, the AfD won 32.8% of the vote, gaining 9.4 percentage points on its previous performance.

This happened mere days after a knife attack at a festival in Solingen killed three people. The attacker, Issa Al H., was a 26-year-old Syrian who had lived in Germany since 2022 despite his claim for asylum being rejected. Unsurprisingly, this terrorist attack dominated the final week of the campaign. It put immigration and security at the centre of debate – right where the AfD likes to have it.

Brendan O'Neill: We need more anger about Islamist terrorism, not less

After Solingen, it’s time for a fightback against both the Islamo-fascists and our complacent elites.

The wisdom of the late Norm Macdonald has rarely felt so prescient. ‘What terrifies me’, the Canadian comic once tweeted, ‘is if ISIS were to detonate a nuclear device and kill 50million Americans. Imagine the backlash against peaceful Muslims.’ It was a perfectly aimed jab at those who fear the public reaction to terrorism more than terrorism itself. At those leftish talking heads and phoney liberals who see people in Manchester, Paris or Brussels being blown limb from limb by radical Islamists and instantly think: ‘Oh no, the Islamophobia is going to be terrible.’ These cowards and fainthearts have been out in force once more following the ISIS knife atrocity in Solingen.