Skip To Content
JEWISH. INDEPENDENT. NONPROFIT.
Breaking News

Will Strong Showing by Anti-Immigrant Party in Berlin Signal Neo-Nazi Comeback?

A double-digit score for the anti-immigrant Alternative for Germany (AfD) in a Berlin city vote on Sunday would be seen around the world as the rebirth of the Nazis, the mayor of the German capital has warned.

The right-wing AfD has gained support as voters become increasingly uneasy with Chancellor Angela Merkel’s open-door refugee policy, which saw about one million migrants arrive in Germany last year.

A poll by Forschungsgruppe Wahlen for broadcaster ZDF that was published on Thursday showed the AfD was set to get 14 percent in the weekend vote in Berlin, historically a left-wing stronghold.

“It would be seen around the world as a sign of the return of the right-wing and the Nazis in Germany,” Berlin Mayor Michael Mueller, a Social Democrat (SPD), wrote on Facebook on Thursday.

“Berlin is not any old city – Berlin is the city that transformed itself from the capital of Hitler’s Nazi Germany into a beacon of freedom, tolerance, diversity and social cohesion,” he said.

The center-left SPD runs the city of Berlin in coalition with Merkel’s Christian Democrats (CDU).

The AfD won a shock 20.8 percent in an election in the eastern state of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern two weeks ago, meaning the party is now represented in nine of Germany’s 16 state assemblies.

When migrants started arriving in large numbers about a year ago, some were met with applause, cheers and gifts, but the mood has since shifted due to concerns about integration and attacks by asylum seekers on civilians this summer.

On Wednesday, locals and asylum seekers clashed in the eastern town of Bautzen. About 80 young people, mainly Germans described by police as being right-wingers, chanted that the town belonged to Germans as 20 asylum seekers stood opposite them. The groups threw bottles and wooden slats at each other.

The Forschungsgruppe Wahlen poll on the Berlin city election showed the SPD on 23 percent, followed by the CDU on 18 percent, the Greens on 15 percent and the far-left Linke on 14.5 percent. The pro-business Free Democrats were on 6.5 percent.

A message from our CEO & publisher Rachel Fishman Feddersen

I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning, nonprofit journalism during this critical time.

We’ve set a goal to raise $260,000 by December 31. That’s an ambitious goal, but one that will give us the resources we need to invest in the high quality news, opinion, analysis and cultural coverage that isn’t available anywhere else.

If you feel inspired to make an impact, now is the time to give something back. Join us as a member at your most generous level.

—  Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO

With your support, we’ll be ready for whatever 2025 brings.

Explore

Most Popular

In Case You Missed It

Republish This Story

Please read before republishing

We’re happy to make this story available to republish for free, unless it originated with JTA, Haaretz or another publication (as indicated on the article) and as long as you follow our guidelines. You must credit the Forward, retain our pixel and preserve our canonical link in Google search.  See our full guidelines for more information, and this guide for detail about canonical URLs.

To republish, copy the HTML by clicking on the yellow button to the right; it includes our tracking pixel, all paragraph styles and hyperlinks, the author byline and credit to the Forward. It does not include images; to avoid copyright violations, you must add them manually, following our guidelines. Please email us at [email protected], subject line “republish,” with any questions or to let us know what stories you’re picking up.

We don't support Internet Explorer

Please use Chrome, Safari, Firefox, or Edge to view this site.