In Former East Germany, the Left Is Paying for Its Failures
Three states in former East Germany face elections in September, with the far-right Alternative für Deutschland leading polls. The party is exploiting voter discontent with the fallout of reunification — and the Left’s lack of a convincing alternative.
Election campaign billboards of the Alternative for Germany (AfD), which reads: “Summer, Sun, Remigration” in reference to the mass deportation of immigrants, and the Sahra Wagenknecht Alliance (BSW), which reads: “Good pensions instead of old-age poverty” hang from a lamppost on August 27, 2024, near Jena, Germany. (Sean Gallup / Getty Images)
The specter that once haunted West Germany was exorcized some thirty-five years ago as the breach in the Berlin Wall opened the way to reunification. This eradicated the specter’s spookiest haunting grounds — the German Democratic Republic (GDR, East Germany) — and nailed it into what was hoped to be a shatterproof, Krupp-steel coffin.
In 1989, this joyous victory was marked with fireworks over Berlin’s Brandenburg Gate, a moving mass rendition of “Deutschland Über Alles,” good beer, and juicy bockwurst. We can expect similar celebrations on this year’s anniversary.
But it now seems that Germany is facing a new and very different specter, again coming from the East. This time, Germans are talking about the danger of fascism.
This article is for subscribers only. Please login or subscribe to access our full archives and beautiful print and digital magazine starting at just $3 a month.