Resurgence: The Rise of the Far Right in Germany
When the far-right Alternative für Deutschland (Alternative for Germany, AfD) was elected to the German parliament, the Bundestag, in 2017, the re-emergence of far right ideology within mainstream German politics became a stark reality. While far-right parties and organisations have long represented the fringe of the political spectrum, the increasingly brazen use of Nazi insignia, language and salutes during far-right protests in eastern Germany, with growing support from some local communities, highlights a startling “normalisation” of far-right sentiment in the country. Adding fuel to the fire, on 26 August a German national died of a stab-wound following a street brawl involving immigrants of Middle Eastern descent, triggering demonstrations across eastern Germany, with protests in Chemnitz, Köthen and Schönberg occurring almost daily since the incident.
Such protests have drawn several thousand far-right supporters and local residents, frequently congregating in the centre of Chemnitz, Köthen and Schönberg. Furthermore, in Chemnitz, far-right protesters have been met by antifascist counter-protesters, resulting in the regular outbreak of violent confrontations. On 27 August, at least five civilians were injured after rival protesters threw projectiles, including flares, bottles and rocks, at each other. Additionally, at several far-right demonstrations led by the Patriotische Europäer gegen die Islamisierung des Abendlandes (Patriotic Europeans against the Islamisation of the West, PEGIDA) group, demonstrators allegedly attacked immigrants with bottles. Police forces have struggled to contain, and separate, rival demonstrators, and on 31 August Saxony’s state police force requested federal reinforcements to maintain law and order in the region.
GLOBAL VERSUS NATIONAL IDENTITIES
The rise of far-right sentiment throughout Europe comes on the back of decades of increased globalisation and economic liberalisation across the continent. The two trends are not wholly unrelated, and the resurgence of far right nationalism in Germany is likely deeply rooted in these broader socio-economic developments. Following the end of World War Two (WWII), Germany underwent a significant transformation. Similar to many other European countries, Germany implemented aggressive liberalisation initiatives, in both its domestic and foreign policy, which resulted in substantial social and economic progress. However, the flipside of this initiative in Germany, as in Europe more broadly, has been a blurring, and – in more extreme cases - a rejection of once powerful national identities. For example, in Germany, overt displays of nationalism and patriotism, and the rejection of integration initiatives, have long been criticised by social elites for evoking the country’s Nazi history.
While one segment of German society has prospered under the new liberal, and global, “world order”, another has come to feel increasingly disillusioned with the status quo. Specifically, many workingand middle-class Germans have lost a once strong sense of attachment and belonging to the laws and norms which underpin their society. The far-right has offered Germans feeling alienated within their own society a sense of belonging, and a strong national identity to rally around. The AfD, for example, has capitalised on growing resentment toward political correctness in German society, framing its ultra-nationalist ideology as having “the courage to stand by Germany”.
The influx of millions of refugees, asylum seekers and immigrants of Middle Eastern decent has likely exacerbated tensions already brewing within German society. Immigrant communities are frequently utilised by far-right elements as convenient scapegoats for social and economic hardship. Add to this issues around cultural difference, integration and mounting rhetoric associating immigration with terrorism, and the scene is set for a far-right resurgence in the country
While one segment of German society has prospered... another has come to feel increasingly disillusioned.
THE EAST/WEST DIVIDE LIVES ON
Even though the west of the country has received the large majority of immigrants entering Germany, it is the east which has witnessed the highest number of far-right rallies in recent weeks. The resonance of far-right ideology in the region is likely linked to its ongoing economic underdevelopment compared to west Germany. Eastern Germany has a long history of economic hardship. The east German economy suffered under years of Soviet rule between 1949 and 1990, which saw Soviet authorities export the region’s manufacturing and industrial equipment back to the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR). After German reunification in 1989, eastern Germany suffered a significant “brain drain”, as the most educated and qualified workers from the region moved to the west, in search of better opportunities and economic prospects. This process was accelerated after the public German Treuhand agency sold off a large-number of Communist-era state-owned enterprises to companies in the west of the country, leading to an exodus of large industrial employers from the east. As a result, the population in eastern Germany fell from 16 million in 1989 to 12.5 million by 2016.
Despite investments of more than USD 2.7 trillion in east Germany since reunification, the economic disparity between east and west persists. The global financial crisis of 2007-2012 increased pressure on eastern German communities. As income and wages continued to stagnate in 2009 and 2010, austerity policies enacted by the central government in Berlin increased pressure on working- and middle-class families across eastern Germany, fostering antigovernment sentiment. Furthermore, from 2010 to 2014, Chancellor Angela Merkel’s Christian Democratic Union and Social Democratic Party coalition failed to implement a budget which aimed to mitigate the impact of the crisis, and subsequent austerity policies, on eastern Germany.
Given this background, the fact that incidents of far-right civil unrest have been most prominent in eastern Germany is not surprising. In particular, Saxony State has come to define the resurgence of the far-right in the country. The AfD received 27 percent of the vote in Saxony during the general elections in September 2017, and Saxony’s capital, Dresden, served as the origin of the PEGIDA party. Moreover, in 2004, Saxony also became the first eastern German state to elect members of the neo-Nazi Nationaldemokratische Partei Deutschlands (National Democratic Party, NPD) to its local parliament since reunification
The fears and tensions driving far-right demonstrations in the country are likely to persist.
MORE TO COME
Economic legacies, coupled with ongoing tensions around the integration of large migrant communities, have all contributed to the rise of far-right groups in the country more broadly. This resurgence is now manifesting in a growing audience for those espousing far-right ideologies, which is likely to drive further civil unrest in the country over the next 12 months. Furthermore, due to increasing political polarisation between right- and left-wing supporters, there continues to be a high likelihood that public demonstrations will devolve into violent confrontations between rival protesters, and between demonstrators and police forces. Until the disparity between those feeling included in, and excluded by, contemporary German society, is addressed in a robust and structured manner, the fears and tensions driving far-right demonstrations in the country are likely to persist.