Democracy at Dusk
Some context is needed: On September 25, the eve of the inaugural session of the newly elected Thuringian state parliament, Björn Höcke posts the word “Demokratiedämmerung” ("Democracy at Dusk") on the social media platform X. In the post, the AfD leader in the Thuringian parliament and state party spokesman claims that the so-called “democratic” parties are attempting to undermine democracy, and announces a “political farce” around the election of the parliamentary president the following day. “If tomorrow the candidate of the strongest parliamentary group is not elected, it would mark a fundamental breach of rules and taboos in the history of German parliamentary democracy,” he agitates, “and that is precisely what CDU, #BSW, #SPD and the Left are preparing for.”
What Höcke—classified as “confirmed far-right” by the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution—meant by “political farce” became clear the next day: for the first time in the history of the Federal Republic of Germany, an inaugural parliamentary session derailed to the extent that it had to be interrupted and referred to the Constitutional Court. The AfD's interactive staging was based on a tactical scenario exploiting a vague passage in the parliamentary rules of procedure and carried out by their senior presiding member Jürgen Treutler. This could easily have been prevented—by clarifying said passage, for instance, as the academic-journalistic platform Verfassungsblog – On Matters Constitutional recommended in a policy paper published in April analyzing the so-called "Thuringia Project."
The Greens proposed an amendment in December 2023—rejected by the CDU. Since 2019, Verfassungsblog, founded by legal scholar and writer Maximilian Steinbeis, has addressed the question of how susceptible Germany’s democratic institutions are when a populist-authoritarian party gains access to state power. Steinbeis’ essay A People's Chancellor already highlighted the systemic constitutional gaps that could enable a legal yet authoritarian power grab. Building on this and the “Thuringia Project,” Steinbeis developed A People's Citizen, a “political farce” that premiered just one day after the AfD’s maneuver in Thuringia—at the House of the Federal Press Conference.
Scene: Federal Press Conference Hall
Founded in 1949 to “quickly obtain the most objective information possible,” the Federal Press Conference has become the epicenter of political reporting in Germany. Nico and the Navigators stage their production in this very room, choreographed by Nicola Hümpel and inspired by the ritualized federal press briefings. Over the course of a fictional year, the production traces a gradually escalating constitutional crisis through shifting constellations: a prime minister, a government spokesperson, a district administrator, NGO activists, and a federal commissioner.
The piece begins on election night. The stage is bathed in the blue of the “Democratic Alliance” (set by Oliver Proske), while journalists—both fictional and real—and the theater audience await the victor’s statement. Fabian Hinrichs plays the new prime minister of a fictional federal state with a boyishly smug grin. His landslide victory renders coalition-building obsolete. Journalist Theo Koll plays himself, lending an unsettling air of authenticity, and extracts a few pompous soundbites from Hinrichs’ character Arndt. When Arndt finally enters the press room, late and conciliatory, he dismisses bureaucracy, criticizes the poor state of digital infrastructure, and grins through any attempts at critical questions: “You all want great wording these days. Let me give you some: ‘Free State First.’”
Everyone, including press conference chair Klara Pfeiffer, quickly realizes that Arndt is playing by his own rules. In real-political terms, this manifests in the state’s refusal to uphold federal asylum and immigration laws—a slow erosion of constitutional compliance reminiscent of Bavaria’s obstruction of EU diesel regulations in 2012. Attempts to legally compel then-Minister President Markus Söder failed; in 2020, the case “#BavariaIsACarCountry” was quietly closed by the European administrative court.
In the play, the government spokesperson (Annedore Kleist) deflects journalists’ concerns with vague reassurances: “We’re taking this very, very seriously” or “Of course, the Basic Law and rule of law are non-negotiable.” After appearances by a racist district administrator (Stefan Merki)—“And when a Ukrainian shows up in an SUV at the food bank… that’s tough to watch”—and blocked NGO and federal officials, the production escalates toward the invocation of “federal coercion”: the rogue state is declared in a state of emergency, all ministers are removed, and the state police disarmed. The audience understands: it could have ended worse.
On the Run
As civil war looms, Arndt flees to a country “where the lemons bloom.” From exile, he sends a final (for now) video message, portraying himself as a victim (#five children), echoing anti-elite tropes (#power cartel), and posturing as a misunderstood enlightener. He misquotes Brecht, Kant, and Goethe.
At this point, the production leaves its documentary realism and shifts toward a reflection on the fraught relationship between art, ideology, and politics. Hinrichs’ final act—singing the aria “Nessun dorma!” (“No one shall sleep!”) from Puccini’s Turandot—pushes the performance into operatic overdrive, a nod to Nico and the Navigators’ music theater origins.
Puccini died in 1924, before he could finish Turandot—and before witnessing how Mussolini's fascist party, of which he was an honorary member, came to power.
“Something has begun, a vast upheaval, a kind of revolution,” says Arndt ominously in the final video. That’s why the Verfassungsblog team has just launched a crowdfunding campaign: to expand the “Thuringia Project” into a national-level “Project Federal Republic.”
“We must stop expecting institutions to protect us,” says Maximilian Steinbeis in a post-show discussion. “We must now protect the institutions ourselves.”
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