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Alternative for Germany (AfD) has won a major victory in the September 2026 elections in Saxony-Anhalt, Germany. This is the first time since World War II that a right-wing party in Germany has come close to power with such a massive victory in a state.
The AfD is known for its tough stance against immigrants from other countries and gay marriage. But one thing is most surprising in the AfD story.
AfD party chief Alice Weidel is herself a lesbian. He is married to a woman born in Sri Lanka. That is, the personal life of the most powerful leader of the same party whose policies are against gay marriage and immigrants is completely different from this.
Weidel is considered to be a major influence behind the growing influence of AfD in Germany. But to understand his politics it is important to know that Who is Alice Weidel and how did she become the face of a party whose vision is completely different from her own?
AfD chief Alice Weidel waves the German flag at the party headquarters in Berlin on Sunday after the election.
Childhood: Born into a family with a Nazi past
According to the German newspaper Die Welt, Weidel’s childhood was spent in an environment where there was a lot of discussion about politics. However, his parents were not associated with any political party.
Weidl’s grandfather Hans Weidl was associated with Hitler’s Nazi Party. During this period he progressed a lot and was made a judge. His family then lived in Silesia. This is now the territory of Poland.
When Hitler was defeated in World War II, his family fled from Silesia to West Germany. Here the Weidl family started the furniture business. In 1979, Alice Weedle was born.
When Weidl’s grandfather died in 1985, she was just six years old. According to Weidel, there was never any discussion in the family about the work his grandfather did during the Nazi regime.
Used to go to school in Mercedes to tease the teacher
Regarding his school days, Vidal told that most of the teachers in his school were influenced by leftist ideology. “They didn’t like me and I didn’t like them either. To tease them, she would sometimes go to school in her father’s Mercedes,” she says.
During her school days, Weidel wanted to become a doctor. But his father was against it. On his advice, Weidl studied economics and business. After this he started a career in banking and business. For some time he worked in the American investment company Goldman Sachs. After this she went to China.
Learned Mandarin, understood China’s economy
In China, Weidl worked at the Bank of China and stayed there for 5 years. During this time, he learned Mandarin i.e. Chinese language and also worked as a business consultant.
While living in China, his interest in the economy there increased and he started researching the future of China’s pension system. In 2011, she completed her doctorate on the same subject and then returned to Germany.
Before entering politics, Weidel had studied economics, worked in a bank and spent several years in China. That means, even before coming into politics, he had a good understanding of money, business and economy.
Love-Family: Entry into politics after taunting by partner
45 year old Alice Weedal is married to a woman of Sri Lankan origin. His wife is a filmmaker.
In 2007, Vidal met Sarah Bossard. Sara is a Swiss film producer. He was born in Sri Lanka and adopted by a Swiss family as a child.
Their friendship gradually turned into a relationship and they started living together from 2009. Today Weedle and Sarah live in Switzerland two adopted sons Lives with. Both raise their children together.
According to Sara, she herself fulfills the responsibilities of a wife at home. Both of them have kept their relationship quite private and the information about when and where they first met is not public.
According to Weidl, the idea of joining AfD came to him from his partner Sara. At a party, Vidal was continuously talking about EU politics. Sara became upset after listening to his long talks. He told Weedle,
If you have to talk so much about politics then why don’t you go into politics yourself?
This statement of Sara stuck in Weedle’s mind.
Politics: Became the biggest face of AfD in no time
Alice Weidl speaking during the party congress in Erfurt on July 5, 2026.
In 2013, Weidel joined the newly formed AfD party. The party’s main issue at that time was not immigration or gay marriage but the euro and eurozone crisis. The AfD was against Germany continuously giving money to other European countries facing economic crisis.
Weidel also criticized Germany’s policies regarding the euro. This was the reason why she joined this new party. After joining the AfD, Weidel’s stature began to rise rapidly.
Within no time she reached the national leadership of the party. She began to be recognized as a leader who understood economic matters well and could present the party’s views strongly in front of the media.
AfD’s politics changed in 2015, refugees became a big issue
Then came 2015, the year that changed the direction of German politics. The civil war that had been going on in Syria since 2011 had by then become more violent. To save their lives, millions of Syrians left their homes in search of a safe haven.
Not only Syria, people troubled by war and violence in Afghanistan, Iraq and some other countries also started moving towards Europe. Within a few months, the number of refugees reaching Europe increased rapidly and large numbers of people started reaching Germany.
The refugee crisis became a major political issue for the AfD. That is, the party which was initially formed on the euro and economic issues, gradually became known for its opposition to migrants and refugees.
A year later in 2016, the AfD released its first manifesto. Opposition to homosexuality was also added to this. The party opposed education related to sex and sexual diversity in schools.
Paradox: Despite being a lesbian, against gay marriage
Alice Weidl with his wife Sarah Bossard in Zurich, Switzerland in 2023.
This is where the contradiction between Alice Weidel and the AfD appears. The biggest leader of the same party which is against immigrants and gay marriage is herself a lesbian and is running a family with an immigrant woman.
When Weidel was asked why, despite being a lesbian herself, she was the leader of a party that opposed gay rights, she replied that her being a lesbian and being the leader of the AfD was a big political message.
Weidl says the biggest threat to gay people comes from some Muslim gangs. He argues that if Germany limits the number of people coming from other countries and tightens immigration, the safety of gay people will increase.
That is, Weidel does not see her lesbian identity as separate from the AfD. She defends the party’s strict policy towards migrants by citing this identity. This contradiction makes him a unique face of the AfD.
Weidel has been against legalizing gay marriage. However, he is in favor of giving legal partnership to gay couples. This means that even without marriage, the relationship between two people can be recognized by law and they can have legal rights in property, medical decisions and some financial or family matters.
In the race for Germany’s next Chancellor
The AfD, formed in 2013, got 4.7% of the votes in the elections of the same year. Now in the recent survey the party is getting around 27-28% votes. This means that the support of AfD has increased manifold in almost a decade.
Strong hold in East Germany: The AfD has a strong base in states like Saxony and Thuringia. Recently in Saxony-Anhalt the party got about 44% votes, which is its best performance till date.
But the biggest challenge will be to form the government. Germany’s other major parties have so far refused to form a coalition with the AfD. Therefore, merely getting the highest number of votes will not be enough for Weidel to become Chancellor.
He will also have to get the support of other parties to form the government. This will decide whether the growing power of the AfD can propel Alice Weidel to the post of Chancellor of Germany in 2029.
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The right-wing party Alternative for Germany (AfD) won a major victory on Sunday in Saxony-Anhalt, a small state in eastern Germany. This is perhaps the first time in Europe that the outcome of a state election has been seen to be so closely linked to the future of democracy. Read the full news here…
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