Once Inoculated by Its Nazi Past, Germany Is Becoming a Far-Right Stronghold
GÖRLITZ, Germany—As evening fell on a recent Monday in this eastern German city of Gothic spires and Renaissance museums, hundreds of protesters began to gather, just as they have nearly every Monday for at least two years. They carried banners calling for Germany to leave the European Union and cheered speakers who demanded that the nearby border with Poland be shut. They are angry about migrants settling in their communities and inflation squeezing their pensions.
They oppose arming Ukraine and say Russian President Vladimir Putin has been unfairly maligned. This is Germany’s rising far right, a movement gaining steam, particularly in the country’s formerly Communist east. The party behind the regular protests, Alternative for Germany, or AfD, has seen its support rise to a record 21%, putting it ahead of the governing center-left Social Democrats and just 4 percentage points behind the center-right Christian Democrats, or CDU, according to pollster Forsa.
The rise shows Germany’s Nazi past is no longer deterring voters from embracing far-right populism. It is also remarkable because while other nativist groups in Europe have become more moderate to broaden their appeal, the AfD has grown more radical, causing alarm among security authorities who see parts of it as potentially hostile to the country’s democratic order. Despite some successes at local elections, it is unlikely the AfD, founded in 2013, could rise to power nationally because the electoral system favors ruling coalitions and all other parties have pledged never to join it in government.
Yet it could gain enough votes to make Germany harder to govern. The party holds just over 10% of seats in Germany’s federal parliament. If it were to gain substantially
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