The triumph of the far right AfD and the far left BSW of Sahra Wagenknecht (plus a sovereignist and populist movement) in the elections of the German states of Thuringia and Saxony stings. The points of contact between the two parties are not few: immigration, relations with NATO and pro-Putinism are the controversial elements in common between BSW and AfD. In addition, the Eurosceptic and nationalist rhetoric of the Alternative fur Deutschland party is gaining traction in a Germany that is increasingly losing confidence in the Scholz government and in the coalition formed by the SPD, liberals and greens. A big problem for the chancellor, who next year will have to face general elections and avoid governing with the AfD.
Why Extremes Succeed in East Germany
The far-right party’s success in eastern Germany is due to historical factors – the Soviet past and the entrusting of political affairs to a strongman – and the provocative charisma of the AfD leader. While the leader of the sovereignist and populist left-wing party condemns the Nazi past, the same cannot be said of the extremist Bjorn Hocke. The party’s strongman, who became the first in Thuringia with 33.1% of the vote and the second in Saxony with 30.5% of the vote (behind the CDU), pushes a narrative that plays on fear, nationalism and deep skepticism towards democratic institutions, including the European Union. And above all, in view of the vote in the East, Hocke has served as a megaphone for the concept of “remigration”, or sending around 2 million people back home.
AfD Leader’s Flattery of Hitler
Hocke knows Thuringia well, having moved there in 2014 after being born and raised in Lübeck, in northern Germany. A former history teacher, he brought with him a worldview deeply rooted in a kind of “nationalist nostalgia” with a strong focus on ethnic German identity. So much so that the year after he arrived in the state that gave him 33.1% of the vote, Hocke helped found Der Flugel, an extremist wing of the AfD that has moved the party further to the right.
But why is he so popular? The extremist is known for his radical opposition to immigration and multiculturalism, which he considers existential threats to Germany. He does not spare attacks even on the European Union, which the far-right leader has repeatedly described as the cause that is “destroying the national identity” of its member states, proposing a return to a confederation of sovereign states, with less integration and more national autonomy.
His nostalgic ideology has led to him receiving heavy condemnations in the past for using Hitlerian slogans and the motto “Alles fur Deutschland”, a classic of Hitler’s SA militia. Hocke is also characterized by denialism. In 2017, in a long speech to the youth wing of the party, the former history professor attacked the Holocaust Memorial in Berlin. “We are the only people in the world that is erecting a monument to our shame in the heart of the capital.” The jab came shortly after. In the Wall Street Journal, he instead praised the Nazi dictator: “The big problem with Hitler is that he is spoken of as the absolute evil. But nothing in history is black or white.”
