In her article “Did We Get Used to Nazis (Again)?”, Rebecca Fobbe lambasts the success of the Alternative für Deutschland party (Alternative for Germany, AFD) in the recent German federal elections, which gained almost 13% of votes and thus became the third-largest party nationally.
Following Rebeccas article, it would be easy to assume that the Germans once again couldn’t resist turning to ‘the Dark Side’, by voting for a party that has been called ‘far-right’, ‘fascist’ and ‘dangerous’. Contrary to her assertion, links between the party, its politics, and ‘neo-nazis’ are frequently made – as a cursory Google search of the phrase ‘AFD Nazi’ and derivatives will reveal. A recent example of the foreign minister Sigmar Gabriel (SDP) doing just that comes to mind. But have the Germans really once again gone astray, despite the valiant efforts since the end of WW2 – or is the answer more complicated than that?
Nazis?
A cursory reading of the reporting of many large German media outlets reveals an often very Anti-AFD leaning, sometimes to the point of striking bias, which can be seen in both the tone of questions posed and the strong signalling that any points the AFD has raised cannot be acceptable as they are inherently promoting ‘exclusion, xenophobia and inhumanity’, in Rebecca’s words.
It is precisely in this liberal usage of certain words that we find a clue. In Germany, ever since the end of WW2, and especially since the 60s (which saw large left-wing student movements call for institutional purges), the word ‘Nazi’ or ‘Fascist’ has served as a potent and at times, dangerously over-used word that risks hollowing out its historical signifiance given its highly specific background. Fears of right-wing populism have waxed and waned over the last decades; in the 80s, the CDU/CSUs so-called “Strauß-Doctrine” was ushered in by its namesake, politician Franz-Josef Strauß, who famously declared that “no legitimate political party can be right of the CSU” (the CSU being the CDU’s Bavarian sister-party).
Yet, despite several German Jewish organisations publically declaring their fears and doubts over the ‘rise of German nationalism’, it bears merit to explore the degree to which different fears are shared within the Jewish community. On the one hand, there are Jewish voices such as the chairwoman of Munich Jewish Community calling the election result a “a nightmare come true, a historical change” and the AFD an “extreme-right party”. On the other hand, the former party leader has visited Israel twice to take part in meetings of right-wing movements from across the world, in which members of the current Israeli Prime Ministers own party were taking part. This suggests that at least in these quarters there is more common ground than division, and that the ‘Nazi’ question becomes more complex yet as the party has repeatedly affirmed its position of respecting Israels right to exist and denounced anti-semitic views.
When it comes to anti-semitic fears in Germany and Europe, furthermore, many Jews have more immediate concerns with regard to islamic anti-semitism than anti-semitism from the ‘native’ extreme right, as the Times of Israel reports. A 2016 study on muslim asylum seeker attitudes in the state of Bavaria revealed that more than half of them hold anti-semitic views (compared to at most 15-20% in the general population according to the Friedrich-Ebert Foundation report). Recent high-profile cases such as that of a Jewish boy in Berlin being taken out of his school by his parents after being told by Arab and Turkish classmates that “all Jews are murderers” have lead to growing concerns about wide-spread and accepted anti-semitic attitudes in these population segments. Events such as these have seen a record spike of Jewish emigration to Israel amid often violent anti-semitic attacks and resultant fears, especially in France.
Another highly interesting factor is that of the galvanization of political enthusiasm by the AFD not often seen German political landscape, with figures suggesting that its presence and message appealed to people across the political spectrum.
This statistic from one of Germany’s leading news outlets “Der Spiegel” shows the voter migration in the last election. What we can see here is that not only was there more than a million ‘defectors’ from the CDU/CSU, but almost a million voters in total from the left-leaning parties (SPD, Left and Greens) also joined them. The fact that the party furthermore managed to galvanize more than 1.3 million non-voters perhaps says just as much about the state of the older parties as it does about the AfD merely by itself. The most striking picture to emerge here is that there is ongoing erosion of trust in these ‘established’ parties, chiefly the CDU and SPD, which have now suffered their worst election results since the late 40s.
Crisis?
Originally, the AFD was a euro-sceptic party, taking the position that ultimately the eurozone was doing more harm than good – both for German taxpayers as well as citizens of (poorer) European countries struggling with debt. However, especially since 2015 the AFD has made the ongoing refugee & migrant crisis its central talking point. In the absence of salient policy from those in government and meaningful dialogue in the public sphere, it is only a matter of time before people start to look for ‘Alternatives’ (whether they are capable of governing remains to be seen). Contrary to the ‘well-run and polished’ image that many outside of Germany have at this moment, there has been a slew of social, economic and political problems following in the wave of the ‘great border opening’ (in addition to the already existing ones).
Merkel almost provoked a split within in her own party over the question of yearly migrant/refugee caps, which have now been tentatively set at 200.000 people per year. Municipalities feel strained and left in the cold economically, and there are no easy answers to citizens’ security fears. Crimes, including those of sexual and violent nature, have increased dramatically in Germany and feature an overrepresentation of non-German suspects and perpetrators, with even interior minister de Maiziére (CDU) raising the alarm bells. Italy was forced to undertake unilateral action to stem the NGO-aided influx of migrants over the Mediterranean through a new ‘code of conduct’, and enlisted the help of the Libyan coastguard to break the power of the vicious human traffickers that control the lucrative smuggling business. And lastly, EU commissioner Frans Timmermans admitted in early 2016 that 6 out of 10 migrants arriving in Europe were not refugees in the first place.
These are all just small pieces of the puzzle, and show that the real elephant in the room may be less ‘xenophobia, racism, and inhumanity’, and rather the demonstrably disastrous policies of Chancellor Merkel for which she has been sharply criticized even within her own party.
Outcry?
There is a growing sentiment of many Germans of a too-rapidly changing cultural landscape, coupled with an increased longing for that great German taboo – ‘pride’. A 2012 study by the Friedrich-Ebert Foundation revealed that almost 40 % of Germans agreed that ‘we should once again dare to have a strong sense of national identity’. A larger discrepancy between ‘East’ and ‘West’ in this study can be seen in that of attitudes to foreigners, with almost half of eastern Germans expressing fears that the republic was becoming dangerously ‘alienated’ due to the presence of too many foreigners (a position labeled as ‘extreme-right’ in the study and subsequent news articles), compared to around a third of western Germans. It must be confusing for eastern Germans – who still have the sour aftertaste of the GDR in their mouth – to suddenly be accused of ‘not voting correctly’ once again, particularly by wealthier Western Germans who have been dealing with questions of immigration and integration for much longer.
Conclusion?
A more frank dialogue is needed regarding the deep, structural problems that are plagueing Germany instead of any more ostracism of ‘right-wing’ voters through ‘public outcries’ which will ultimately yield little constructive outcomes, as it further stifles dialogue within the context of the overall lackluster political response from established parties to many growing concerns.
Concluding that the AFDs controversial rise to power comes from a vacuum, or worse, that the spectre of National Socialism is once again haunting German politics, overlooks the financial, political and socio-cultural problems facing Germany right now. Unless the larger parties manage to get a grip on policy again, answer some tough questions, and foster real public confidence, this years election results may just be a small leak in a vat filled to the bursting point. Votes for candidates that continue to demonstrate arrogance in the face of catastrophic mismanagement can and should be accepted – but what about the consequences of these policies?
Peter Williamson is a Political Science and Sociology major from Germany (Class of 2015). He is now finishing his Master’s thesis in Sustainable Development at the University of Utrecht.
