Public Story
Once Inoculated by Its Nazi Past, Germany Harbors Growing Far-Right Currents
Summary
Once Inoculated by Its Nazi Past, Germany Harbors Growing Far-Right Currents
Support for pro-Russia, anti-immigration Alternative for Germany surges as more voters lose faith in mainstream politics
Assignment for THE WALL STREET JOURNAL in August 2023
Photographs by Nadja Wohlleben
Text (excerpt) by Elizabeth Findell
Support for pro-Russia, anti-immigration Alternative for Germany surges as more voters lose faith in mainstream politics
Assignment for THE WALL STREET JOURNAL in August 2023
Photographs by Nadja Wohlleben
Text (excerpt) by Elizabeth Findell
Support for pro-Russia, anti-immigration Alternative for Germany surges as more voters lose faith in mainstream politics.
Assignment for THE WALL STREET JOURNAL in August 2023
Photographs by Nadja Wohlleben
Text (excerpt) by Elizabeth Findell
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.
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