BERLIN, Sept 6\u00a0\u2014\u00a0More than three decades after Germany\u2019s 1990 reunification, lasting east-west divisions may be thrown into stark relief at today\u2019s election in the eastern state of Saxony-Anhalt.<\/p>\n
The anti-immigration and Moscow-friendly Alternative for Germany (AfD) is expected to win big and even hopes to take power at the state level, which would be a first for a far-right party in German post-war history.<\/p>\n
As much of the east has become an AfD stronghold, the government\u2019s commissioner for eastern Germany, lawmaker Elisabeth Kaiser, herself from Thuringia state in the east, spoke to AFP about the historic and cultural factors shaping the region\u2019s distinct politics.<\/p>\n
Disparities\u00a0<\/p>\n
When the Berlin Wall fell in 1989, spelling the end of the communist German Democratic Republic (GDR), many state-owned enterprises were shuttered, sparking large-scale unemployment and population flight, especially by young women.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat was a difficult experience for many East Germans, one that has persisted across generations, becoming part of a collective east German memory,\u201d Kaiser said.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt involved this sense of devaluation, this experience of loss and the realisation that everything can change overnight.\u201d<\/p>\n
Decades on, wages and savings remain lower on average, most big business is still based in the west, and eastern Germans \u2014 one fifth of the population \u2014 are under-represented in politics.<\/p>\n
Billions spent on infrastructure and to stimulate the economy have born some fruit \u2014 Kaiser said the region is now home to many of the \u201cindustries of the future\u201d.<\/p>\n
She also praised many eastern regions as ideal for young families, with lower living costs and rents, natural beauty, good childcare and excellent universities.<\/p>\n
Nevertheless, she said there remain \u201cbig disparities in wealth\u201d and, among many, a feeling of being \u201cdisadvantaged and not seen\u201d.<\/p>\n
Migration\u00a0<\/p>\n
The AfD\u2019s hostility to migration resonates in much of the east, even though it has fewer foreign-born residents than the west.<\/p>\n
While West Germany\u2019s post-war economic recovery was fuelled by \u201cguest workers\u201d, the East invited contract workers from socialist \u201cbrother states\u201d such as Vietnam and Mozambique.<\/p>\n
They \u201cwere very much physically separated from East Germans\u201d and on time-limited contracts, Kaiser said, meaning that East Germany \u201cwas not an immigrant society\u201d.<\/p>\n
While state propaganda praised the GDR as internationalist, she said there was also \u201cracism, xenophobia and right-wing extremism which unfortunately erupted in the 1990s\u201d \u2014 an era known as the \u201cbaseball bat years\u201d for its attacks on foreigners.<\/p>\n
More recently, she said, resentment has spread especially about Syrian and Afghan asylum-seekers and the notion of \u201call the extra things they were getting for free\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u2018Ostalgie\u2019\u00a0<\/p>\n
Kaiser also addressed warnings that East Germany is being romanticised, a nostalgic trend known as \u201cOstalgie\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cIn times of crisis people remember positive things from their past,\u201d she said, adding that populists were using \u201cemotionally charged elements from the GDR era\u201d.<\/p>\n
One icon is the Simson-brand scooter, often ridden by the AfD\u2019s lead candidate Ulrich Siegmund. \u201cBack then it was a symbol of freedom because it enabled you to move around,\u201d Kaiser said.<\/p>\n
While older voters may remember feeling more secure in the GDR, Kaiser said it is often forgotten that \u201cthat was because everything was so controlled and surveilled\u201d.<\/p>\n
She also pointed out that many in the east take pride in the peaceful revolution of 1989 and see it as proof that collectively they are \u201ccapable of toppling a system\u201d.<\/p>\n
Russia ties\u00a0<\/p>\n
The AfD advocates closer ties to Russia despite its invasion of Ukraine and \u201chybrid attacks\u201d Berlin has blamed on Moscow.<\/p>\n
Kaiser said the socialisation of many East Germans had fostered a \u201cstrong anti-Americanism\u201d and a lingering scepticism of the transatlantic alliance which has not eased during the current US administration.<\/p>\n
Many in the east are keen on renewed diplomacy with Russia \u2014 a path which Kaiser says the Kremlin shows no willingness to follow.<\/p>\n
The Soviets\u2019 tight grip over eastern Europe had left behind \u201can element of fear of the Russians\u201d, Kaiser said, \u201ca feeling that you shouldn\u2019t provoke them\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u2018Seismograph\u2019\u00a0<\/p>\n
Some in the west have suggested the richer part of Germany should stop \u201csubsidising\u201d the east. Kaiser says she finds such ideas \u201cdisastrous\u201d and that they \u201cannoy me as an east German\u201d.<\/p>\n
She said cutting transfer funds would \u201conly strengthen the victim role that the AfD always likes to adopt\u201d.<\/p>\n
Amid current geopolitical ruptures and economic stagnation, Kaiser said many in the east are especially fearful of change, given their turbulent history.<\/p>\n
She pointed out that in parts of the west, the AfD and their far-left competitors are also on the rise, and said Germany as a whole should view the east as a political \u201cseismograph\u201d. \u2014 AFP<\/p>\n
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