Europe | The blue queen

The head of the hard-right Alternative for Germany is riding high

Alice Weidel’s laments for the decline of Germany, and broadsides against immigrants, strike a chord among voters

Alice Weidel co-leader of the far-right Alternative for Germany party
Photograph: dpa
|BERLIN

FROM HER sixth-floor office next to the Bundestag Alice Weidel looks west over an expanse of winter-brown treetops. This is the Tiergarten, Berlin’s most famous park. At its centre rises a 67-metre (220-foot) column celebrating Prussia’s defeat of Denmark in 1864. Glinting in gilded glory at its top strides Victory, this particular version of the winged goddess modelled on the then-crown princess of Prussia, a daughter of Britain’s Queen Victoria.

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This article appeared in the Europe section of the print edition under the headline “The blue queen”

From the December 23rd 2023 edition

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