SCOTT SIMON, HOST:
The far-right political party in Germany that is under domestic surveillance for the threat it poses to that country’s democracy, now has higher poll numbers than each of the three parties in government. NPR’s Berlin correspondent Rob Schmitz has more.
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ALICE WEIDEL: (Speaking German).
ROB SCHMITZ, BYLINE: It’s election season in Bavaria, where voters, many emerging from Oktoberfest hangovers, will choose state representatives this weekend. And for Alice Weidel, the co-chair of the Alternative for Deutschland Party, or AfD, German traditions like Oktoberfest are under threat from a political elite, which she says looks down on the rest of us.
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WEIDEL: (Speaking German).
SCHMITZ: “They want to destroy our homeland,” she told voters at a campaign event last month….
