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Europe
Why Is Eastern Germany So Far Right?
2018-10-04
[New York Times] BERLIN ‐ On. Oct. 3, Germans celebrated Reunification Day, the moment when, 28 years ago, the former East and West Germany became one nation again. And yet this year, instead of celebrating our unity, there is a growing sense of estrangement. East and west are drifting apart again.

A few weeks ago, a young man was stabbed to death at a city festival in Chemnitz, a city in eastern Germany; afterward two asylum seekers were arrested in connection to the attack. Large demonstrations broke out around the city, dominated at times by hundreds of right-wing extremists. Some raised their hands in the Hitler salute; journalists and counterdemonstrators were verbally and physically attacked; a mob threw stones at the owner of a Jewish restaurant.

Similar demonstrations broke out in Köthen, a town of 30,000 inhabitants in the eastern German state of Saxony-Anhalt. And on Monday, the police arrested seven men accused of planning attacks on politicians and foreigners on Wednesday.

These events are not random. While violent crimes committed by right-wing extremists are down from 2016, they are still far more frequent in the five eastern German states than in the west, according to the annual report of Germany’s interior secret service. And then, there are the polls. The eastern states of Brandenburg and Saxony will both hold elections next September. For both states, pollsters predict record results for the far-right populist Alternative for Germany party.
Posted by:Besoeker

#7  Is that one of those dialectic things?
Posted by: DooDahMan   2018-10-04 20:22  

#6  Because they got a lengthy, up close and personal look at the Left.
Posted by: ed in texas   2018-10-04 16:05  

#5  Violent mobs acting like Antifa thugs and that makes them FAR RIGHT? Curiouser and curiouser.
Posted by: AlmostAnonymous5839   2018-10-04 10:37  

#4  Far right tends to be marxism with failed PR.
Posted by: Bright Pebbles   2018-10-04 08:41  

#3  Cause you still push the lie that the Nazis were far righters rather than the National Socialist Workers Party. Just another branding of the socialist Left.
Posted by: P2kontheroad   2018-10-04 07:07  

#2  For perspective:
The author of this article works for the German mainstream press whose definition of neo-Nazis includes the likes of Daniel Pipes and Ezra Levant.

A few weeks ago, a young man was stabbed to death at a city festival in Chemnitz, a city in eastern Germany; afterward two asylum seekers were arrested in connection to the attack.

All of the asylum seekers who were (per the authorities) involved in the stabbing murder should have been deported years ago. Their respective names, countries of origin and ages are unknown.

There was no legal basis for the Merkel government to let these people enter Germany in the first place.

Similar demonstrations broke out in Köthen, a town of 30,000 inhabitants in the eastern German state of Saxony-Anhalt.

That happened after a German resident of Koethen was beaten and kicked in the head by Afghans and subsequently 'died of heart failure.'

Demonstrations are not diseases that 'break out.'

People had the right and the moral duty to demonstrate against this outrage.

Why Is Eastern Germany So Far Right?

Wrong question.

Merkel turned (West) Germany's traditional center right big tent party into a party of the extreme left.

The tectonic shifts in German politics are the consequences of Merkel's realignment.

Three states of East Germany btw are currently ruled by coalitions including the Communist Party of East Germany.

Saxony is the only East German state where the Communist Party hasn't held power at the state level since 1990.

It is the anti-Western totalitarian leftist component of East German politics that has been wreaking havoc on Germany's Western Democratic republican institutions.
Posted by: Elmerert Hupens2660   2018-10-04 06:07  

#1  A question only the NYT would have to ask.
Posted by: Besoeker   2018-10-04 02:57  

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