German far-right targets Bauhaus school ahead of Saxony-Anhalt election

Germany's far-right AfD party has made the iconic Bauhaus design school a cultural battleground ahead of a state election in Saxony-Anhalt, calling the movement an "aberration of modernism." The party could gain its first state government control since World War II. The AfD's election program criticizes Bauhaus for lacking "national rootedness" and proposes replacing the state slogan "Think Modern" with "Think German." Germany's Culture Minister Wolfram Weimer has vowed to defend Bauhaus, drawing parallels between AfD rhetoric and Nazi attacks that closed the school in 1933. Founded in 1919, Bauhaus influenced global design and still draws up to 150,000 annual visitors to Dessau. Over 2,500 groups have signed a pro-Bauhaus manifesto initiated by Weimer in August, rejecting "nationalism that is hostile to culture."