海角大神

In Germany's east, populist vote finds root in reunification woes

The anti-immigration AfD party is set for its best-ever national election Sunday, largely due to its popularity in the former East Germany. There, voters say they were left behind during reunification 鈥� and resent efforts to integrate immigrants while they still feel like second-class citizens.

鈥淭raitor!鈥� 鈥淢erkel, out!鈥� The anger, boos, and whistles greeting Angela Merkel in Germany鈥檚 east earlier this month are not the sort of reception many outside observers expect the country鈥檚 popular chancellor to receive.

But not so for people like Regina Bernstein, who lives near this small village of 4,200 at the foot of the Lusetian Mountains near the Czech Republic. She recognizes the anger, which dates back to Dec. 5, 1990. That's when the agency overseeing East Germany鈥檚 transition into unified Germany declared that the local factory,听called Margarethenh眉tte, wouldn鈥檛 compete in the free economy, and laid off its 850 workers.

For more than 130 years,听Margarethenh眉tte manufactured ceramic insulators for power lines,听which by 1991 it sold everywhere from Sweden to South Africa. But for Ms. Bernstein, who worked there as a ceramic engineer, her bitterness over its closure was about more than the loss of job or history.

鈥淚t鈥檚 not only our jobs that were taken but our dignity,鈥� Bernstein, who now owns a pottery studio, says. All the things she had worked for were undermined: her qualifications, the system of all-day school that had helped her combine family and work 鈥� her entire system of values. 鈥淲e felt humiliated, degraded, taken advantage of,鈥� she says. 鈥淭his arrogance, it sits deep and it鈥檚 passed on when it remains unfiltered.鈥�

And while those events are more than a quarter-century past, they have new relevance today amid Germany鈥檚 national elections, set for Sunday. For it is听this sense of anger and resentment deeply anchored in the country鈥檚 east that has contributed to the rise of the anti-immigrant Alternative for Germany (AfD) party. And it is rooted in the personal experiences of individuals like Bernstein, who feel that western听Germany continues to see its eastern German听鈥渂rothers鈥� as second-class citizens. So, they ask, why should we sacrifice to integrate Muslim refugees now?

鈥淧eople don鈥檛 want to share at all,鈥� says Bernstein, speaking of many she knows (although she says she will not vote for the AfD herself), 鈥渂ecause they feel they were betrayed.鈥�

'Why don't you integrate us first?'

After Germany reunited, the Margarethenh眉tte story was repeated thousands of times, from the coal-mine regions to those of chemical industries.听Easterners鈥� feelings of humiliation remained unspoken for long. But Ms. Merkel鈥檚 鈥渨elcome culture鈥� policy toward refugees changed things.

It was one Saxony minister who, in a headline-making speech before the German state鈥檚 Social Democratic Party leaders in Leipzig last fall, spelled out the connection between the unspoken wounds of reunification and the growth of the AfD in the east. Petra K枚pping, who had been mayor of a small town near Leipzig in Soviet times but had to sell insurance after the Berlin Wall fell, spoke from her heart. She had seen coal miners cry when their mines closed. She saw how Western investors took over businesses in the east while Easterners were unable to get loans and left the region. She spoke of railway workers whose pension systems were not being recognized in reunited Germany.

鈥淧eople were treated like objects,鈥� she said.

Today, Ms.听K枚pping is Saxony鈥檚 first integration minister at a time when the听anti-Islamization Pegida movement marches weekly in Dresden, the state capital, and anti-refugee violence still flares. She has been inundated with calls from journalists from across Germany and around the world asking, 鈥淲hat is wrong with the east?鈥澨�

She tries to explain by talking about one of the angry Pegida demonstrators she had spent time with. 鈥淵ou and your refugees! It鈥檚 all about refugees,鈥� the woman yelled at her. 鈥淏ut why don鈥檛 you integrate us first?鈥�

鈥淧eople saw how the state is taking care of the next generation of people in need 鈥� the refugees 鈥� and they are saying, 鈥榃hy hasn鈥檛 it worked for me?鈥欌�� K枚pping said. 鈥溾�榃hy is the state taking care of them while it never took care of us?鈥欌��

'We were taken over'

An influx of Western money after reunification gave the east new roads and refurbished town centers, paving the way for cities like Leipzig and Dresden to experience an economic comeback. The gap between the country鈥檚 two halves has narrowed.

But it remains large. None of Germany鈥檚 30 DAX index companies are in the east, and practically no big company is headquartered here. Wages lag behind, and the risk and rates of poverty are higher. In regions where young qualified people have left in droves, all major leaderships positions in all areas of society, from its universities to its churches, are occupied by western Germans. Many in the east feel they are not part of today鈥檚 successful Germany, the motor of Europe. That is fertile ground for right-wing attitudes.

鈥淲e were taken over, like a colony,鈥� says Rainer Schiemann, who was an electrical engineer at听Margarethenh眉tte for 20 years. He felt the decision to close the plant while systematically turning down any input from workers amounted to 鈥渁 deliberate effort to eliminate us and make room for the competition.鈥�

After unification, he saw western firms take over, using labor in the east but听keeping their highest-paid employees 鈥� and the revenue streams from their taxes 鈥� in the west. With the labor reform under Chancellor Gerhard Schr枚der and then Merkel, precarious jobs developed and wages never took off. 鈥淎nd people tell us we should be grateful that the west took us over!鈥� he says. 鈥淣o wonder that people are voting for the alternative.鈥�

Former plant worker Axel Gude says his family 鈥� and his life 鈥� fell apart after he and his wife lost their jobs. His son turned to the neo-Nazi scene 鈥� his revenge on the system, Mr. Gude says. Gude adds that 鈥渢he memories of the nice times in socialist times and my family have helped me.鈥�

A voice for people's resentment

The AfD has clearly tapped into the disillusionment voters feel with Germany鈥檚 established political parties. But linking the upheavals of reunification to the rise of the AfD has many fierce critics. Yes, mistakes were made, they say. But revising the past brings but false hopes, and nobody wants East Germany (GDR) back.听

Integration Minister K枚pping says it's important to talk for people to talk about the past so they can come to term with it. That鈥檚 key to preserving social peace, she says. 鈥淥therwise we could forget that the GDR was a dictatorship,鈥� she says. She points out that, in Saxony, a quarter of the young people say they do indeed want East Germany back, according to recent studies.

The east, where voters鈥� attitudes are notoriously fickle, is the AfD鈥檚 stronghold, and that has a lot to do with the feelings of the locals 鈥� like the fears of the future, of falling into economy uncertainty, and of having been lied to by the main traditional parties. Those feelings look set to propel the AfD into Germany's national legislature, the Bundestag, for the first time. It will also be the first time that a party to the far right of Merkel鈥檚 海角大神 Democratic Union (CDU) bloc 鈥� and one with an overtly nationalist agenda 鈥� will make it in, ending Germany鈥檚 unofficial consensus not to let extremist parties have a say in politics.

The open question is whether the AfD will win third place nationwide, and become the leading opposition party. In the east, their draw could go as high as 25 percent, according to recent polls, which could put them above the usually second-place Social Democrats.听

But even if the AfD鈥檚 numbers do not rise so high on Sunday, many in the east, even those who have no plans to vote for the party, understand some of its supporters鈥� frustrations. In Bautzen, a small town near Gro脽durau, entrepreneur and faithful CDU voter Marco Kosak is one of those. Decades after the Berlin Wall fell, many of the eastern region鈥檚 leaders 鈥� in the world of academics and business 鈥� come from the west. He is an exception.听

鈥淣obody regrets the GDR, but the feeling of inferiority has remained,鈥� Mr. Kosak says. 鈥淧eople don鈥檛 want to be occupied again.鈥�