How German far-right wields Islamophobia to cash on east-west divisions

Germany, home to the second-largest Muslim population in Western Europe, saw a far-right party become the dominant force in a state parliament for the first time since World War II.

While data revealed earlier this year shows the number of crimes against the country’s five million Muslims has more than doubled last year, the far-right surge goes hand in hand with the growing intolerance toward minorities and immigrants. And old divisions between east and west Germany have made matters worse.

“Anti-immigration sentiment is much stronger in the East than in the West. The ongoing debate over the AfD's success may, therefore, expose the remaining gaps in German reunification,” says Oliviero Angeli, Chair of Political Theory and History of Political Thought at the Technical University of Dresden.

The Alternative for Germany (AfD), a prominent force behind the far-right surge in the European Parliament elections this June, isn't just another far-right party, Angeli tells TRT World.

“It's particularly extreme in its political stance and taps into issues that resonate deeply with East Germans.”

In the regional elections, AfD secured 32.8 percent of the vote in eastern state of Thuringia, and came a close second in another major state election in Saxony, where it secured 41 seats, just one seat shy of the conservatives, who won 42 seats.

Other experts agree that the rise of the German far-right is largely driven by growing anti-Muslim and anti-immigration sentiments, compounded by poor economic conditions, particularly in the country's east.

AfD has successfully exploited rising anti-immigration and anti-establishment sentiment, especially in East Germany, according to Arthur Bueno, senior lecturer at University of Passau.

“The party has capitalised on this (economic) discontent, directing it against immigrants in a typical far-right manner, simplifying complex social problems by blaming the most vulnerable and members of the ‘out-group,’” Bueno tells TRT World.

In 2023, approximately 1,464 crimes nationwide were classified as Islamophobic, compared to 610 in the previous year, according to a report by the German media.

This year, police reported 137 Islamophobic crimes in the first quarter. The dramatic rise in anti-Muslim crimes, reportedly linked to Israel's war in Gaza, coincides with the resurgence of the far-right in the country's regional elections.

Thuringia's shift is particularly significant as it was previously led by the far-left The Left (Die Linke) party. Many find this shift unsurprising, given eastern Germany's historical tendency to lean to the right.

Hate campaigns

Regional elections will continue across the country in the coming weeks, state by state, with expectations that the AfD might achieve a majority in more regions, including Brandenburg, where Berlin is located.

This heightens concerns about the safety of Muslims and other minority groups in the country.

Angeli notes that it is likely that the electoral victories of far-right parties like the AfD may embolden extremists, normalising intolerance and increasing the risk of violence against religious minorities.

“Although the Muslim population in eastern Germany is relatively small, it is precisely in one of the region’s largest cities, Dresden, where extremist movements like PEGIDA—closely linked to the AfD—have been amplifying anti-Muslim sentiment for years, making the region increasingly hostile to religious tolerance.”

“Summer, sun, remigration” was the slogan of the party’s electoral campaign, echoing across the streets of the predominantly rural Thuringia state.

The concept of remigration, as the party claimed, referred to the deportation of “foreigners who were legally obliged to leave the country.” However, the plan also suggested that migrants could be forcefully deported to their countries of origin via mass deportations, even without their consent. Those holding German passports could also be targeted.

Rolf Frankenberger, Managing Director at the Institute for Research on Far Right Extremism at University of Tuebingen, views the results as unsurprising but emphasises that they will have significant implications for both civil society and political culture.

The Thuringia branch of the widely-known far-right AfD has taken a particularly radical turn under regional leadership of Hocke, who once described the Holocaust memorial in Berlin as a “monument of shame” and criticised how Germany remembers its Nazi history.

The branch was placed under official surveillance in 2020 by the German domestic intelligence service as a “proven right-wing extremist” group.

Resentment, neglect, division

Divided into communist East Germany and secular-liberal West Germany after World War II, the country officially reunited on October 3, 1990. However, deep social divisions persist to this day.

The east has historically been poorer than the west, and in recent years, many Germans from the east have been leaving small villages for larger cities.

While a real social “reunification” has long been on the national agenda, experts say the Ukraine war, in which the German government has been deeply involved, has exacerbated political and economic divisions in the country.

“The federal government's support for Ukraine is viewed negatively in many parts of Eastern Germany. The perception that resources, which could be used to improve the lives of Eastern Germans, are being diverted to support a foreign conflict—a narrative echoed by Sahra Wagenknecht’s party—fuels rising anti-immigration and anti-establishment sentiment,” Bueno says.

All the experts TRT World spoke to emphasised that the growing sense of abandonment among people in the East has been a significant factor in recent years, which the AfD has effectively leveraged to gain more popular support.

“The AfD is strong in rural areas and in small towns, which are very different from large cosmopolitan German cities. Rural areas often feel left behind and have shrinking populations – a perfect recipe for anger and resentment,” says Daniel Kinderman, lecturer of politics at University of Delaware.

Frankenberger says that after more than 30 years of reunification, the feeling of being divided emotionally is still relevant in Germany.

“Many citizens feel alienated and unrepresented by mainstream politics at the national level, and the AfD capitalises on this resentment,” Angeli adds.

Spiralling German economy

A part of the German population’s feelings of abandonment and polarisation primarily stem from deep-seated economic problems, which are more pronounced in the East.

Since 2018, Germany has been the slowest-growing economy in the G7, with an average annual growth of just 0.4 percent. It was also recently named as the world’s worst-performing major developed economy by the IMF.

While other European countries are beginning to recover from the energy shock caused by the Ukraine war, Germany continues to struggle with sectoral shortcomings and is facing a recession.

The AfD win represents the deep-seated anger stemming from the disappointing results of economic unification policies, Hajo Funke, professor of politics and culture at Free University of Berlin, tells TRT World. “But it exacerbates the already existing economic crises,” he adds.

“The hatred and agitation against migrants, particularly Muslims, are indeed jeopardising the economic situation.”

Thuringia is one of Germany's poorest states, a lingering consequence of its communist rule from 1949 to 1990. Wages are below the national average, and the state has few major employers outside the public sector, prompting most young people to leave for better opportunities elsewhere.

Amid a nationwide shortage of skilled labour due to an ageing and shrinking workforce, anti-immigration sentiment remains strong in the region.

This sentiment, driven by the AfD, risks exacerbating the economic crisis in the East by making it even more difficult to attract skilled workers and secure foreign investment.

Both the investors and employees need safe and welcoming environments to work and live, says Frankenberger. He believes that an already happening internal migration away from especially more rural areas could lead to more economic problems.

Experts say this constitutes a vicious cycle of both the societal division and financial problems in the country.

In a demographically shrinking society, immigration is essential, including from outside Europe, Angeli notes, as businesses may find it harder to attract workers to a region where an anti-immigration party has strong support.

“This could lead to a downward spiral—fewer workers leading to business closures, population decline as people leave the area, and a growing sense of resentment among those who feel left behind.”

Recently, it is reported that German automotive giant Volkswagen is considering closing factories in Germany for the first time in its 87-year history as part of a larger cost-cutting strategy. The company employs nearly 683,000 people worldwide, with about 295,000 based in Germany.

The CEO noted that their home country “is falling further behind in terms of competitiveness as a manufacturing location.”

Issue is beyond regional

While anticipating growing divisive sentiment between East and West Germans, experts agree that the East should not be solely blamed for this polarisation.

Frankenberger emphasises that the rise of the far-right is not confined to the East, noting that “we have very similar developments in several federal states in West Germany, where the AfD is gaining vote shares, as the European Elections have shown.” He advises against labelling the East as the sole stronghold of the far-right, as this could exacerbate polarisation.

The AfD is not just an East German problem and suggests it is more accurate to view “right-wing populism as a problem that all of society needs to constructively confront,” Kinderman tells TRT World.

He suggests that further action is necessary to promote tolerance, social integration, and public safety, as more support for AfD could lead to the reduced safety of Muslims and other minority groups in these particular states.

According to Hajo Funke, this issue had to be addressed better by the West German-dominated democratic parties before.

“The democratic parties in the Bundestag should draw the necessary consequences, to reduce the pressure for even more far-right influence through better social and economic policies and a policy in favour of more diplomacy and less armament,” he says.

While Bjorn Hocke, the head of the AfD, who is known for his radical rhetoric against immigrants and Muslims, expressed his pride in the party's success and declared that they are "ready to take on the responsibility," it remains unlikely that the AfD will govern Thuringia.

This is because other parties, most of which are democratic, will refuse to form a government with them.

“The last line of defence against the far right is the promise by the democratic parties that they will not form a coalition with the AfD,” Frankenberger tells TRT World.

“If one or more of the democratic parties break this promise, they will lose all credibility.”