Far right eyes political earthquake as Germans head to the polls
The far right is on the cusp of winning the most votes in German state elections for the first time since the Nazis.
For some in Germany, the rise of Alternative for Germany (AfD) is a literal nightmare.
But others, particularly in the east, say the AfD is a chance for change.
All year, the temperature has been rising in German politics and Sunday’s vote in Thuringia and Saxony may be the boiling point.
“Liar!” shouted a small group of people in Thuringia this week, as Chancellor Olaf Scholz took the stage in the city of Jena.
Chants of “Volksverräter” also punctured through the wider applause; a phrase that means “traitor of the people” and is seen by many as having Nazi connotations.
Chancellor Scholz’s Social Democratic Party, along with his Green and Liberal coalition partners, are doing so badly in Thuringia they may not even get a single seat in the state parliament – while the AfD is polling top.
In neighbouring Saxony, the AfD is running neck and neck with the conservative CDU.
Last week’s knife attack, in which a Syrian asylum seeker and suspected Islamist is accused of killing three people, has fuelled fierce criticism of how successive governments have handled migration.
A hasty – you could even say panicked – response has seen ministers announce tougher asylum and knife crime laws.
But it’s unlikely to overturn a broader discontent that – for many AfD supporters – isn’t just based on anger about “mass” immigration.
People also talk of wanting to fight what they see as over-zealous green policies, state interference and ill-advised military support for Ukraine.
In the east that all combines with a despondency and frustration that’s been brewing for years, even decades – about the results of German reunification.
“You can constantly see where the east begins and where the west begins,” says 16-year-old Constantin, who rides into the town of Meiningen on his East German Simson S50 moped.
“The east and the west, it’s true it’s connected now. It’s one Germany. But we see, in the difference, it’s big.”
The trainee car mechanic’s view is one that echoes through the streets of towns, cities and villages that once made up the communist GDR.
A feeling of being “looked down on” has combined with resentment at the west’s stronger industrial base, higher wages and historic pension inequalities.
“We are getting forgotten,” says Constantin who is firm in his support for the AfD – as are many young people, according to polls.