Overview

• Roughly 480 to 500 members and supporters met in Wittenberg for workshops designed to bolster eastern chapters and train activists to handle hate and intimidation.
• The party seeks a return to eastern state parliaments next year but polls near 3% in Sachsen-Anhalt after 2024 exits in Brandenburg and Thuringia, and only about 12,000 of roughly 170,000 members live in the East.
• Eastern delegates pressed for greater visibility of East-German voices, with Paula Piechotta proposing an Ostquote to promote candidates from the region.
• Leaders pledged extra campaign funds and regular support from western members, while the planned Ostbüro in Brandenburg an der Havel has been postponed due to additional Bundestag requirements.
• Local officials reported targeted hostility, including vandalism and threats such as repeated dumping of cat feces at a district office, and they called for faster, more decisive police follow-up.