FRIESACK / BERLIN Painter Ralf Maaschin a small German flag flies on the bonnet of the van.
His t-shirt reads “Deportation assistant – have a good trip home”. Stick figures are printed under it, one of which prevents other stick figures from advancing with his hand.
The message of the shirt is that Maasch wants to help deport immigrants.
We happen to park next to Maasch in the small village of Friesack near the town of Rathenow, while we wait for the start of the AfD, or Alternative for Germany, election campaign. You can only get here by car.
Maasch is the chairman of the local branch of the AfD in Rathenow. AfD is partly a far-right party, whose representatives have also been fined for Nazi speeches.
Maasch readily agrees to an interview to tell what is wrong in Germany and why people should vote for a far-right party.
– The local hospital may be closed soon because there is no more money. The maternity ward was closed earlier, and now women have to drive at least 30 kilometers to give birth, Maasch begins.
“Parties are the same”
Maaschille Chancellor By Olaf Scholz there is no government anymore. It’s already gone. Next fall, the Bundestag elections will be held in Germany.
– Mr. Scholz only pursues his own interests and those of his immediate family. He got to the golden branch at the expense of Germany, Maasch scolds.
In his opinion, AfD is the only option for someone who wants change. All other parties are the same idiot.
– No matter what other party you choose, you always get the same. The Christian Democrats promise: you will get everything. Dems promise: you’ll get it all. I’m not even talking about the green ones. Only the AfD will give the dignity of East Germans a home again.
“Nothing gets better”
Before next autumn’s Bundestag elections here in eastern Germany, in the area of the former GDR, power is changing in three states. Thuringia and Saxony will vote on Sunday, and Brandenburg will vote in parliamentary elections in three weeks.
Maasch now represents a very large part of East Germans who are really dissatisfied.
– Everything just gets worse, worse, worse. Nothing is getting better, says Maasch.
The AfD, as well as the new left-wing populist party “Sahra Wagenknecht’s association” BSW, think radical reforms are needed.
Neither party has stated their exact goals, but two things are clear. Immigrants would start being directed out of the country and Ukraine’s support would be stopped if they were allowed to decide.
According to Maasch, Germans will run out of money at some point if foreigners are “fed” for a long time.
– Our wealth no longer exists on paper. Many companies operating here no longer belong to Germans, but to Japanese, Chinese and Americans.
“Peace to Europe”
Go to the place in a station wagon jacket embroidered with party emblems Dominik Kaufnerwho is a local AfD politician and is now running for MP. He hesitates, but nevertheless agrees to the interview.
What will change if the AfD comes to power?
– The most important thing is, of course, immigration policy. Now anyone can come and anyone can stay, regardless of whether they have asylum or not. We need mass deportations.
After immigrating to the country, Kaufner makes “peace” his top project.
– We want peace in Europe. There is a war in Ukraine that is not our war and we should not have involved ourselves in it.
The AfD would end German aid to Ukraine and try to improve relations with Russia so that gas trade with Russia could be restored.
– Security of energy supply is a very important issue. Today’s decision-makers want to switch everything to renewable energy, and are putting the German economy at risk, says Kaufner.
Finally, the most awaited guest of the evening arrives in the garden, the chairman of the state youth association AfD, or Junge Alternative Anna Leisten. The other young people present did not want to give an interview until Leisten gives permission.
– Not under any circumstances, Leisten says firmly, directly.
It’s a shame, because according to opinion polls, it’s the young people who vote for the fringe parties AfD and BSW. They are often more radical than their parents, and it would be good to ask them themselves why.
Leisten promises to answer two questions himself after his performance. He begins his speech by telling about his childhood and, among other things, how he already hated wind turbines in his youth.
As the speech continues, the other young people say: Leisten doesn’t want to comment. Although there is nothing wrong with Finnish journalists in themselves – after all, there is a far-right government in Finland – the journalist and cameraman may have hidden relations with the German broadcasting company ARD.
The arrival of Leisten has electrified the atmosphere.
During the evening, the audience has tasted beer and aperol spritz. Some are already winking at us a little impatiently, are they still here. It’s time to leave the place.
“A third of the votes is enough”
Head of the INSA polling institute in Berlin Hermann Binkert says that just under a third of the votes is enough for the AfD. Then it can prevent decision-making.
– Until now, the old parties have decided on issues with a two-thirds majority. Now the situation can change, says Binkert.
If the AfD gets every third seat, for example in Thuringia, where it has the strongest position, it will be able to influence the appointments of the State Audit Office, the Constitutional Court and the Court of Auditors.
– Then the firewall would no longer work, because you would have to negotiate with the AfD if you want to agree on things, says Binkert.
In Germany, a firewall means that other parties refuse to cooperate with the AfD. There are also neo-Nazis and extreme right-wingers in the party, which is why they want to keep it out of power.
Now half or almost half of the voters in Thuringia and Saxony plan to vote for either the AfD or the far-left BSW. In Binkert’s opinion, it tells about a bad frustration with established politics.
– If every other person votes for a party that is against the current system, that is a clear warning sign.
Voters moving in the East
AfD and BSW have recently grown in the West as well, but in the East it is easier for fringe parties to attract voters. In the GDR, there were no party options and therefore no party loyalty either. Voters are mobile.
– The old western states have a long tradition of voting. The grandfather and parents already made the choice, and then the children continue the tradition, Binkert explains.
Why does anti-immigration bite especially in the East, where there are fewer immigrants than the West? According to Binkert, it is due to the fact that immigrants came more suddenly to the east.
Many immigrants from, for example, Turkey came to West Germany even before German reunification in 1990.
– Asylum seekers have since been distributed all over Germany. But in young states, it was noticed, for example, that with the arrival of refugees, there were suddenly children in schools who had problems with the language, but there were no teachers, says Binkert.
The same problem has continued until these days.