Der Spiegel calls Ulrich Siegmund 'Germany's most dangerous man'

Ulrich Siegmund, the 'most dangerous man in Germany' now on the verge of an absolute majority

On 25 August 2026, a Der Spiegel cover turned AfD candidate Ulrich Siegmund into the most dangerous man in Germany. The magazine did not pick a mafia boss or a politician from the past; it singled out the candidate sweeping Saxony-Anhalt, where the SPD and the Greens are collapsing and clearing the way for an absolute majority for the party. The headline carries weight: it is meant as a warning, but among those who do not buy the official narrative it sounds like a certificate of popularity.

Banning as the only answer

As the AfD advances, a section of the German left has moved from criticism to openly demanding the party be outlawed. It is a demand that keeps recurring in European history: whenever an inconvenient party crosses a threshold, the administrative solution appears. Those in favour of a ban argue that the AfD programme clashes with the constitutional order; critics contend that outlawing parties only reinforces the persecution narrative that fuels the party.

The electoral Streisand effect

Some see the Der Spiegel cover as a textbook case of the Streisand effect: the more Siegmund is incivil, the more visibility and votes he gets. The polls in Saxony-Anhalt are not moving in the opposite direction. The debate over whether the media should treat the AfD as a threat or as a political opponent remains open, with an uncomfortable fact on the table: a ban has become a campaign argument for the party itself.

The polls point to an absolute majority; the campaign, to a head-on clash between the press and the party. Siegmund does not seem bothered by being called the worst of Germany; deep down, the Der Spiegel cover is the best campaign poster he could have dreamed of.