Overview

• The federal anniversary program opens in Saarbrücken with public dialogue forums featuring cabinet members, ahead of Chancellor Friedrich Merz attending the Oct. 3 church service and official state ceremony.
• The ARD-DeutschlandTrend shows the AfD at a record 26 percent tied with the Union, while the ZDF Politbarometer records the Union at 27 percent and the AfD at 25 percent, reflecting small differences within typical margins.
• Survey data underline broad dissatisfaction with the government and growing doubts about how well democracy functions, factors analysts link to the AfD’s sustained rise since 2024.
• Saxony-Anhalt’s premier Reiner Haseloff warns against further AfD gains, urges unity among democratic parties, calls for faster decision-making, and notes the continued underrepresentation of eastern biographies.
• Polling finds about 90 percent view reunification as right despite many, especially in the East, seeing unresolved issues; cultural commemorations span cities like Potsdam, a ZDF documentary amplifies mixed eastern perspectives including talk of a ‘Beitritt’, and Angela Merkel praises unity as a ‘great stroke of luck’ while urging more eastern voices on the stage.